Homecoming
by jbn42
Summary: Poe takes Rey and the others to Yavin 4 to see his father and to investigate the old base when things take an unexpected turn.
1. Chapter 1 - The Long Road Home

**Author's Note: Not even going to try to predict chapter numbers this time, especially because I'm not entirely sure where this one is going! Follow on to** _ **Connections**_ **and** _ **Unwanted**_ _ **Silence**_ **– this will make more sense if you read those first.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

"General, what do you think?" Poe leans over the map table they have set up in command, looking at Leia. He just explained to her the proposal he and Rey came up with, the idea of going to Yavin 4 to see if they can salvage anything useful.

They actually thought of it several weeks ago, but they waited to bring it up until their numbers here expanded. Recent recruiting efforts and pleas for help have swelled their numbers, and they've also been able to collect a few more fighters in addition to the TIE fighter he and Rey stole.

Leia lifts an eyebrow at him. "It's not a bad idea, but why do you need to be the one to go, Commander? You know we need you here, especially for training the new pilots."

Rey stands back, listening to the exchange. Much to Poe's consternation, the general officially named him her second in command (just as Rey had predicted she would) two weeks ago. Even with that, she has allowed him to retain leadership of the pilots, and she doesn't require him to stay at command. Rey has an idea of what Leia is doing. Poe wanted to sell this on merit, but Rey encouraged him to be honest with Leia – he wants to go see his father, to check on him and to have Rey meet him. Leia wants him to be straight with her. Rey can feel it.

She bumps Poe with her mind, thinking, "Flyboy, she sees right through you. Tell her the truth."

Poe sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Leia, I want – no, I kind of need to go see Dad. I haven't seen him in nearly three years. This is a chance to see what we can find at the old base, but also to let Rey go check out the Force tree and…meet Dad. Which is really important to me, him meeting her, I mean."

Leia is silent for a moment, observing him. Then she smiles and shakes her head. "Now see, Commander? That wasn't so hard. You have a go. Take Chewie, Rose, and Finn with you, but you take your new X-Wing, too, just in case you run into trouble."

Rey chuckles behind him, and he turns and shoots her a grumpy look. "Don't say it, Beautiful."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Flyboy." She smirks. "Actually, yes, I would. I told you so."

He rolls his eyes and turns back to Leia, who mirrors Rey's smirk. "And tell Kes I said hello."

"Yes ma'am." He salutes, respectfully for once. "Thank you, Leia."

She shoos him away with her hand, but he can feel affection from her, something that still surprises him. Just to see if he can do it, he pushes a wave of affection back towards her. She must get it, because she smiles and shakes her head. "Go, Poe. Be careful."

The next morning, while the others are loading up the Falcon, getting ready to make the trip to Yavin, he's doing a final check on his new X-Wing, freshly painted black and now configured to his liking. He and Rey spent hours here in the hangar trying to get the ship up to his standards, which are admittedly somewhat high, especially knowing he'll be flying on a four-day round trip through hyperspace.

The trip to Yavin will take a while, as they have to get from one edge of the Outer Rim, where they are now, to the opposite end. They've calculated that it will be a couple of days to get there. They plan to be gone a week, ten days at the most, but just in case something happens and the Resistance has to move again, Poe has a cloaked binary beacon similar to the one Rey and Leia used last time; Leia has its partner. They'll be able to find their way back to the Resistance, no matter what.

Poe decided not to call ahead to his dad – he doesn't want him to worry if they're delayed. And his dad would definitely worry about that. That's just his dad. Poe smiles. He can't wait to see him; it has been far too long, and he misses the hell out of him. He also is anxious for his dad to meet Rey. He knows that the minute he sees his mom's ring on Rey (even if on her right hand), his dad will know what it means.

While he and Rey have only been together for a few months now, he can no longer picture his life without her. It scares him, but it is a reality he has no desire to change. Satisfied that he has everything in the cockpit of his X-Wing, he climbs down the ladder. He feels Rey approaching, so he doesn't jump when she wraps her arms around him from behind. She presses herself to his back, a little awkward through his flight suit, and murmurs, "I have no desire to change it either, you know?"

He looks over his shoulder at her. "I do know."

She shoots him a playful grin and releases him to poke him in the side. "Except that you're too old for me." He laughs and shakes his head at what has now become a running joke between them.

Even with the laughter, he picks up on some tension from Rey. "What's wrong, Beautiful?"

"It's going to be a long couple of days for you. We can spell you, you know? I can fly your X-Wing, and so can Finn." He's been training them both, Finn more than Rey, who picked it up in minutes, on how to fly the small crafts.

He nods. "If we can find a safe place to put down briefly, we'll see. But it's not my first multi-day trip in an X-Wing, Rey. I'll be fine." Her tension doesn't really dissipate, and he pushes, "But that's not what's wrong."

She chews her bottom lip and wraps her arms around her torso protectively. "What if your dad doesn't like me? All kidding aside, what if he thinks I'm too young for you? Or what if he thinks you being with someone so clearly targeted by Kylo Ren is too dangerous?"

He hugs her to him. "Rey, on that last part, while his approval matters to me, I'm a grown man, and I'm the one who gets to decide what's too dangerous and what's not." He pulls back a little, catching her eyes with his. "And on that first part, he won't just like you, he'll love you, if only because you make me happy." He smirks then, "And honestly, he'll probably just say something like, 'hope you can keep up with her' on the age thing, if he even comments at all, you know?"

She snorts and nods, still chewing her lip but relaxing in his arms. She leans up and presses a kiss to his lips. When they separate, he presses his forehead to hers and she mumbles, "I'm going to miss you. Miss this."

"Me too, Beautiful, but we can practice connecting while in hyperspace." He pulls back and kisses her forehead before stepping back from her. She raises an eyebrow at him, and he laughs. "You know what I mean, Rey."

"And did you bring some small things to move around, things to practice with?" She shakes off the last of her anxiety to just focus on him. As promised, in addition to working with him on blocking mental invasions off, she's also trying to teach him to channel the Force, to use it to move things, direct power.

"I did." He grins. He values their work on their connection and his ability to block people out more highly, but the moving things around with his head is more fun. He hasn't had much success yet, but he did manage to knock a glass off a table in a moment of frustration about it not working. She'd laughed at that, noting that the ability at least is there, he just needs to learn to tap into it. It's not like with her or even Leia, a natural inclination, but it's there.

She picks up on the sentiment about it being more fun, rolling her eyes. "Good. The meditation you need to do to help you focus will probably be good for you in the X-Wing anyway."

He cups her cheek in his palm. "I really am going to be fine, Rey. I promise."

"I know. I just feel bad that you'll be on your own."

BB-8 rolls up, beeping out an objection. She crouches down and pats the little droid on the head. "Apologies, little one. You're right. He'll have you."

Poe chuckles as the droid rolls towards the X-Wing to get loaded in. "Must be careful not to offend the one who keeps me safely in hyperspace when I try to sleep."

"Point taken," Rey replies with a fond smile. The affection they both have for the little astromech is slightly embarrassing.

Chewie calls to them from the ramp of the Falcon, telling them that it's time to go. Rey waves an acknowledgement, then turns and hugs Poe again. He squeezes her tight and releases her. "See you on the other side, Beautiful. And don't worry about Dad. He will love you as much as I do."

She reaches out to squeeze his hand, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Safe flying."

"You too."

She turns and heads for the Falcon, and he watches her go. As the Falcon's ramp closes, he turns and climbs up into his X-Wing, which BB-8 already has started up. "Ready to go, Buddy?"

BB-8 beeps out an affirmative, and Poe closes the hatch and smoothly pulls his X-Wing into the air. In moments, he's zipping up out of the atmosphere, the Falcon close behind him. He and Rey aren't certain that they'll be able to mentally connect through hyperspace, but since they're taking exactly the same route and speed, she thinks they might. He doesn't like the idea that they might not, so he believes her.

He can easily admit to himself that it's going to be a long two days if they can't. BB-8's presence notwithstanding, he's gotten used to having her in his head. Even in their separate ships, he can still feel and hear her. Just because he knows he still can connect, he thinks, "Love you, Beautiful."

Seconds later, he hears, "Love you too, Flyboy," in his head.

He grins, tapping on his comm as he clears the atmosphere. He shakes his head and turns serious. "Falcon, Base, this is Black Leader. Preparing to jump." Out of habit, he slips into his regular parlance while he gets his small ship ready. It's part of how he gets into the right mindset for the long flight ahead.

As command gives them clearance and a good-bye, in the cockpit of the Falcon, Chewie, Rose, and Finn all give Rey funny looks. She shakes her head at them and says, "Copy, Black Leader. We're ready when you are." She watches as his small ship jumps, and she follows. When they're moving, she turns off the comm and explains, "It's habit. He needed to get in the right headspace. He's going to be on his own for two days, and he needs to treat it like a mission."

They all fall silent, and Rose finally says, "I never thought of that." She looks at Rey. "Will he be all right on his own? Can he hear you at all through hyperspace?"

Rey gives her friend a weak smile. "He'll be fine, but we hope so. I'm going to go to my bunk and try." She looks at Chewie. "Chewie, can you take her?" Chewie calls out agreement and motions to Rey to go. With a grateful look, she leaves.

Sitting in his X-Wing, Poe is already bored. He told Rey he can handle it, and that's the truth. That doesn't mean it's fun, though. The hardest part of these long rides through hyperspace is keeping his overly-active mind occupied. Here, there is little to respond to or even pay attention to, and it can get downright mind-numbing, a sensation he doesn't like.

There are a few odds and ends sitting around in the cockpit, and he looks at them. He's not ready right now to settle in and meditate, to try to get in the right frame of mind for working with the Force. He wants to try, but right now, he just wants to see if he can hear Rey. He's almost sure she's there at the edge of his mind, but it's not as easy or natural as usual.

He closes his eyes, wondering if Rey is trying to reach out yet. It's easy for him to open his mind to her now, so instead of trying to connect, he just relaxes and focuses on her and on removing any mental barriers. He's a little worried that the tickle at the edge of his consciousness is her trying as opposed to just her usual presence. That worry disappears a moment later. "Poe, are you there?" The voice, her voice, sounds in his head as opposed to over the comm.

He exhales in relief, thinking back, "Here, Beautiful. Can you hear me?"

The soft feeling amps up to the usual buzz, and he grins as she thinks back, "I can! I didn't really think this would work through hyperspace!"

His relief at being able to feel and hear her is palpable, and she feels it clearly. Her worry returns, and he feels that. "Beautiful," he thinks, "I'm fine. It was just going to be a long, boring two days without anyone to talk to easily."

After that, they spend the next few hours going back and forth. Most of their "conversation" is him telling her stories about growing up on Yavin 4, both from before and after his mom died. She tells him about some of her life on Jakku, about her AT-AT house, her Rebellion pilot helmet, and how she built her staff herself. She also gives him detail on her first meeting with Finn, and he is outraged at the notion of her calling the Falcon "garbage." Some of the exchange is words, but other parts are sharing actual visual memories.

Eventually, Finn comes to knock on her door, asking if she wants any food. Reluctantly, she says yes, as she's definitely hungry. Poe thinks, "It's all right, Beautiful. I'm really fine. Knowing we can connect makes it a lot easier. Go spend some time with the others. I'll sit here and try to move stuff around or something."

She laughs at that and thinks, "Just don't accidentally eject BB-8 or anything."

He chuckles and thinks back, "Noted. Will do my best."

"I'll check on you later, Flyboy." He feels a wave of wistfulness from her with her last thought. He then feels her presence slip back to a buzz, but this time it's not as faint as before. Maybe she's doing it on purpose, maybe not, but he appreciates it either way.

They go back and forth like that again a few hours later, and he works on meditating in between. Before he can move things around or channel the Force in any way, he knows he needs to learn to settle his mind without assistance, in particular without Rey holding his hand. He loves her and needs her close, but the truth is that this short span apart is probably good for them. They've learned to manage their bond when they're together, but they need to manage being apart, too.

It's essentially what would be night at this point, so he closes his eyes, intending to try to sleep. He lets BB-8 know, and BB-8 beeps out an acknowledgement. As he settles in, he bumps out a thought to Rey. "Going to try to grab some sleep, Beautiful."

Rey is settled into the pilot's seat on the Falcon. She's alone save for a porg snuggled into her lap, as she just convinced Chewie, Rose, and Finn to all take a break. Chewie promised to be back in a few hours. She thinks back, "All right, Flyboy. It's just me and the porgs over here. Got the others to go get some sleep."

"You need to sleep too, Rey." She can feel a wave of concern along with his thought.

"I know, and I promise I will. I've just taken more time to myself today, talking to you. I thought it was their turn to step away. Chewie will spell me in a few hours." She thinks it with a wave of appreciation back to him.

He sends back a goodnight and unhooks his seat harness to actually change position and curl up a little in his seat. The other hard part of these long trips is simply the inability to move around a lot. Biological stuff can be handled, but just moving, activity, it's nothing. He closes his eyes, the buzz of Rey in his head lulling him to sleep.

The next day brings more of the same, with him spending time trying to bump the objects on the dash in his X-Wing around. He does so with some success, but his mind is so bored with the monotony that he has challenges with his focus. That notwithstanding, he's gratified and honestly surprised when he is able to make some things move around, even if only slightly. Rey cheers him on mentally, and that makes him grin at the small achievements.

About forty hours into the approximately forty-seven-hour trip, however, cabin fever sets in for him, making him manage to mentally get short with Rey when she badgers him about sleeping more. He slept for several hours the first night, but he's been restless ever since. He has to apologize mentally and then tell her that this is normal for him for this kind of trip. He's not used to having someone hover, and he's trying to manage it as gracefully as he can.

They tried to find a place to take a break, but the scans they ran the few times they dropped out of hyperspace made them unwilling to set down anywhere. It's disheartening to see the First Order shadow growing over so much of the Outer Rim.

On the Falcon, Rey is sitting on her bunk, thinking about Poe. She puts up a thin barrier in her mind, still letting him feel her but not letting him hear her actual thoughts. She knows he does the same with her sometimes, though his tends to be a more natural move than it is for her. She ponders that – maybe her ease with the Force makes her more inclined to openness with him, whereas his more limited connection to the Force combined with his experience with Kylo Ren makes him default to a position of self-defense.

She feels bad for pestering him about sleep earlier; she sometimes forgets that he has fairly long tenure as a pilot in both the Republic fleet and now with the Resistance. Her innate desire to protect him can make her not think about things as well as she should. She knows he isn't upset with her, just as she isn't upset with him, but she also knows that she needs to get better at letting him manage himself – he did mostly fine at that for years before meeting her, and she needs to allow him the space he needs sometimes.

Trust is hard for her. She knows that. And yet, despite her years of solitude, she has absolute trust in Chewie, Rose, Finn, Leia, and Poe most of all. She would trust him with anything – and she chides herself, because she knows that the one place she hasn't shown that trust is in how he takes care of himself. All she wants is for him to be safe, and she does have to spend a fair amount of energy on managing her constant desire to push him out of harm's way.

She curls up in her bed, trying to sleep. When it doesn't come, she takes down her mental wall and reaches out to him. "Poe? You there?"

It takes a moment, then she feels a wave of tension from him. "I'm here, Beautiful." Despite the tension she feels, she can tell it's about being ready to be out of his X-Wing, not about her.

Even so, she thinks, "I'm sorry about earlier. I don't ever want you to feel like I'm smothering you."

She gets silence for a moment, but then he thinks, "Beautiful, please tell me you haven't been sitting there worrying about that. Is that why you were gone for a while?" She blushes, and he can feel her embarrassment. When she doesn't answer, he thinks, "It's fine, Rey. You weren't out of line. You just give a damn about me. I'm just on edge because I'm ready to get out of this ship – something you won't hear me say often. I should have warned you that I get like this on this kind of trip."

She doesn't respond, but he feels her embarrassment wane again. After a moment, she thinks, "I should have known. I know you and your head. I should have known how restless you'd get." She pauses in her thoughts before he hears a faint, "I'm not good at this yet," in his head.

He doesn't have to ask her to explain – he knows she means relationships like theirs. He thinks back, "Beautiful, I'm not either. Regardless of people looking to me and caring about me, this is different. We are different. We're going to stumble now and then, and that's all right. I'm only going to worry if we don't talk about it when we do."

He can feel her relaxing, and it helps him do the same. He knows he won't sleep much more, but he'll be glad if she does. Faintly again, he hears, "Can you tell me more about growing up on Yavin 4?"

He smiles and thinks, "Bedtime stories, then?" She doesn't respond, just sends a warm wave his way, so he starts pushing some quiet memories her way. He keeps going until he's sure she's asleep, and he dozes himself. It's quiet for the next few hours, but a good kind of quiet – peaceful quiet.

Not long after she wakes up again, BB-8 gives him the truly happy news that they're getting close to Yavin. After about fifteen minutes, he drops out of hyperspace, the Falcon doing so moments later. He starts bouncing his legs as much as he can so that he gets some circulation going in them again after the long ride.

When he clears the planet itself, he sees the fourth moon, his home, and he's almost overwhelmed by the feeling it brings. Rey clearly feels his emotion, and he can feel her surprise at it. They're now up on comms, and he just says, "It's been a long time, you know?" very softly. He clears his throat, going on, "Any signs of ships or First Order activity?" According to his last conversation with his dad, the First Order has largely ignored the small settlement on Yavin 4, but they want to scan anyway.

"Nothing at all, Poe," Rose pipes up.

"Great." He smiles. He can't wait to see the look on his dad's face when they land. "Chewie, do you remember where you used to park when you were here after the war? I think that area is still probably clear. I'll get a look at it when I set down by Dad's house, so I can let you know if you need to go somewhere else."

Chewie responds affirmatively, and Rey asks, "How far is it from your father's house?"

He begins to descend into the atmosphere of the moon, grinning at the familiarity of it. "A short walk, three minutes if you're going slow." He gets close to the part of the moon where his dad lives, and he sees the clearing he referenced. "It's still clear, Chewie."

He laughs a moment later when Finn asks, "Is it as hot and humid as it looks from here?"

"Humid, absolutely. It's a jungle, Finn. But no, it's the cool season, so it shouldn't be too hot." He sees his dad's house, and his heart jumps to his throat.

Rey must sense him getting choked up, so she thinks, "Go home, Flyboy. We'll see you in a few minutes."

He swallows hard against the lump in his throat and replies, "Setting down, Falcon. See you all soon."

With that, he gently lands his X-Wing about thirty or forty meters from his dad's small house, the house he grew up in. As he does, he sees his dad come out, looking up at first in surprise, and then with a huge smile blooming on his face. "BB-8, can you shut her down?"

The little droid beeps out happily, starting the shutdown sequence before Poe can finish his question. He opens his hatch and sees his dad hurrying over. Poe drops his ladder and, shaking his legs slightly to try to ward off the likely inevitable pins and needles that are coming, he climbs down. He drops his helmet on the ground, closing the last few meters separating him from his dad quickly, and seconds later, he's wrapped up in a hug.

He's not sure his dad has ever held him as tight as he is right now, and he finds himself tearing up. He whispers, "I've really missed you, Dad."

His father loosens his grip, stepping back a half-step. Poe gets a good look at him, and he's happy to see that he looks nearly the same. More salt in his hair than last time, but it's still almost as black as Poe's own hair, but stick straight as always. Poe's curls and waves came from his mom. He's slight, but he always was. His dark eyes have a sheen of tears just like Poe's do, and Poe knows that the half-hearted punch that lands on his upper arm a moment later is his dad's attempt to be strong. "Why the kriff didn't you tell me you were coming, and why are you alone? Is that safe?"

BB-8 drops out of the X-Wing, rolling up and beeping at Kes, who rolls his eyes. "Yes, BB-8, I know he has you. I meant why is he here without back-up?"

Poe steps back, picking up his helmet from where he dropped it. "Dad, I'm not…"

"What the hell? Is that Chewbacca?" Kes's eyes widen as he interrupts.

Poe turns, and he sees Chewie, Finn, Rose, and Rey emerge from the jungle at the edge of his dad's land. "Yes, Dad. I came with perfectly adequate back-up."

When the small group gets to the X-Wing, Chewie surprises Kes with a hug, calling out that he's happy to see him. Kes surprises Poe by responding, "It's good to see you too, Chewie."

Poe gapes at his dad. "You understand him?"

Kes rolls his eyes again. "Enough to get by. Why? Don't you?"

He raises an eyebrow at Poe, and Rey laughs out loud. She can't help herself, blurting out, "Leia said you look like your mom, but just now? You look like your father! You do that same eyebrow thing all the time."

Looking back at his son, Kes grins. Poe just shakes his head and points to Rose and Finn, introducing them. Finally, Poe beckons Rey over to him, and he can feel her start to get nervous again. Nonetheless, she comes over to him, holding out her right hand to shake Kes's hand. "I'm Rey."

Understanding crosses Kes's face, and he takes her hand. He's startled to feel a ring there with a design he distinctly remembers. Still holding Rey's hand, he turns it over using his own hand, and he sucks in a breath at the sight of Shara's ring. Poe blinks, realizing that his dad figured things out faster than Poe expected him to. "Dad…"

Kes shakes his head, waving his free hand at Poe. "Hush, Poe. I want to talk to this young woman here. Miss Rey, let me show you around the place. If my son gave you that ring you have on, I need to get to know you, and I also need to find out how he managed to convince a woman as young and gorgeous as you that he's worth your time." He grins rakishly, and pulls Rey by the hand towards the house.

She shoots Poe a panicked look, but he just thinks at her, "Go with it, Beautiful. I probably told you that he's almost as protective as you are, but I didn't tell you that he can be as pushy as Leia."

Out loud, she admonishes him, "Some warning would have been nice, you know?"

"Behave, Dad!" Poe yells after his father, making Finn, Rose, and Chewie laugh. Despite himself, Poe grins, trailing behind Rey and his father. It's good to be home.


	2. Chapter 2 - Stories to Tell

**Author's Note: The next chapter will NOT come this fast, due to work and real life. Just a heads up. But it won't be that long - hopefully this weekend.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

As Poe follows Rey and his Dad, Rose, Finn, and Chewie head back to the Falcon to gather their things, including the bags that Rey and Poe both packed for the days they plan to spend here. Poe told them that the house has space for all of them, but Chewie already insisted that he'll sleep on the Falcon.

Poe can hear Rey's voice in his head insisting that he catch up with them. He puts on some speed, BB-8 bumping along behind him. As he enters the house behind Rey and his dad, he's struck by a wave of nostalgia and has to stop for a moment. Despite the fact that Kes is talking to her, Rey turns back to Poe, mumbling an apology to Kes as she does.

She goes straight to Poe, itching to touch him. She hasn't in two days, and now that he's so close and also emotional, she can't bear to wait any longer. She gets to him and, after taking his helmet from him and placing it on a small table, she takes his hands in hers, catches his eyes, and thinks, "Are you all right?"

He gives her a half-smile. He doesn't want to freak out his dad by having entire conversations in silence. He answers softly, "Beautiful. I'm fine. It's just been a while, and it's…it's just good to be home."

The inevitable tingle is also starting in his legs, driving him crazy. He needs to keep moving for it to dissipate, so he calls to Kes, "Dad, are my extra clothes still in my old room?"

Kes looks at them, a little puzzled and a little worried. "Yes. Are you all right, Poe?"

Poe nods, taking Rey by the hand. "I am, Dad. It was just a long ride, and I'd like to change. I'm going to borrow Rey for a few minutes, too, all right?"

Kes shrugs, a curious smile on his face. "Sure, kid. I'll be here."

With that, Poe pulls Rey down the hall with him and into one of the rooms. She looks around, and she's struck by her own wave of nostalgia, because it's like looking at a little corner of Poe's past. The room is simple, a double bed, bookshelves, a small desk, and a closet. The shelves have books on about half of them, but the other half is filled with model fighters, from A-Wings, to X-Wings, and even to a mini-Falcon.

He grins sheepishly, following her gaze. "It was something to do. Yavin is pretty quiet."

She laughs, and he goes into the closet, kicking off his boots and stripping off his flight suit. By the time she follows him in, he's down to his shorts and socks, digging through the clothes he has here. She comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her cheek to his bare shoulder as she molds her front to his back. She sighs, and so does he. Her hands rest on his stomach, and he covers them with his, entwining their fingers. "I missed this, Beautiful."

She nods against his shoulder. "I know you need to get dressed, but I just needed to touch you for a minute."

They stand there for a while, but the pins and needles in Poe's legs make him need to move again. Rey senses his discomfort, and she releases him and steps around to look at him. "What's wrong?"

He grabs some pants and a shirt, and he heads back into his room, tossing the clothes on the bed. "I didn't move much for two days, Beautiful. Getting the circulation back to normal in my legs can be a little uncomfortable."

"Sit," she commands, and he does, dropping to the edge of his bed. She kneels in front of him and starts to massage his legs, first one and then the other. After a few minutes, the tingling recedes, and she feels him relax. She looks up at him. "Better?"

She stays on her knees but straightens up, and he leans down to her. "Much." Without waiting for a response from her, he slides one hand into her hair, the other dropping to her shoulder, and he presses his lips to hers. She tilts her head, allowing him to deepen the kiss, and her hands rest on his bare thighs, kneading the skin and muscle in a way that she knows drives him crazy.

They stay like that for a while, just re-establishing their physical connection. A sense of propriety seems to hover, keeping them from taking it further, but the kiss is deep, possessive, and firm on both their parts. They're interrupted a moment later by Kes's voice. "Whoa!"

Rey jumps back from him, trying to stand up quickly, but instead stumbling and landing on her rear on the floor. She and Poe lock eyes, and they both start laughing. Poe looks at his dad, and he shrugs as he grabs his shirt and shoulders into it. He then stands and extends a hand to Rey, hauling her to her feet a moment later. "Sorry, Dad."

Getting over his surprise, Kes chuckles. "You know, son, I think that's the first time I ever caught you…in the middle of something with a girl." He looks at Rey. "He was too busy with flying and working on his mom's old A-Wing back when all of his friends were chasing girls."

"Dad!" Poe protests as he pulls on his pants and finishes re-dressing. Rey, blushing, goes into the closet to fetch Poe's flight suit so they can clean it before the trip back to the base. Poe goes to his dad and quietly says, "Dad, please take it easy on Rey. She's not used to having a lot of people around her, and she was really nervous about meeting you."

Nodding, Kes replies, "Sorry, son." He sees Rey emerge from the closet, still a little pink in the cheeks. "I'm sorry, Rey. I'll knock next time."

"It's all right, sir." She puts the flight suit on the bed and comes to Poe's side, nervously taking his hand. The contact helps her settle again.

Poe looks at her, thinking, "You all right, Beautiful?"

She thinks back, "Yes. I was just surprised." She looks up at him with a weak smile. "I now know what you meant about feeling like Leia had caught us – I now know what that feeling is."

"About as awkward as one can possibly feel, right?" He smiles back as he thinks the words.

Kes looks back and forth between his son and the woman he very clearly adores having what appears to be a wordless conversation. He clears his throat, and they look at him, both apparently a little embarrassed at being caught again. Kes just smiles bemusedly. "So, son, looks like you have something you need to tell me. And maybe a few things to explain?"

Poe ducks his head, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Yeah, a few things." He drops Rey's hand for a moment, grabbing his boots and pulling them back on. He can hear the others out in the main area of the house. "Let's show Rose and Finn where they can get settled, and then let's you, me, and Rey take a walk, all right?"

Half an hour later, Finn and Rose are settled in and off exploring the jungle around Kes's small farm. Poe and Rey follow Kes out the back door of the house, walking up a well-worn path that Poe remembers clearly. Poe takes Rey's hand, entwining their fingers. Both of them are armed with blasters, and Rey has her lightsaber and staff. Regardless of how safe they feel, it's not easy to turn off their general paranoia with the First Order still fairly strong despite the death of Snoke. "Heading up to the ridge, Dad?"

Kes smiles and nods. Poe notices that his dad is also armed, a Pathfinder to the end. Good to know that some things never change. As they walk, Kes asks, "So, what was going on earlier?" They both blink, and Rey turns pinks again. Kes rolls his eyes. "The unspoken conversation, you two. It's been a long time, but I do know what the other stuff was," he pauses, grinning, "And when you're done explaining that, you can explain why Rey has a lightsaber."

Poe curses to himself. He knows his dad is observant, but he'd honestly forgotten just how observant. While Poe is reticent, Rey cuts to the chase. "I'm training to become a Jedi. That's why I have a lightsaber."

"You are a Jedi, Beautiful." Poe corrects her.

"No, I'm training, Flyboy. I'm not there yet." She furrows her brow at him.

He sighs and shakes his head. "To quote you back to you, give yourself credit, Rey."

"Poe…"

Kes holds up his hands. "Stop. I got it. Jedi, Jedi-in-Training, either way. Understood." He stops walking as they get to the ridge, and so do they. "And what about the unspoken conversation?"

Poe motions to some fallen logs, one Poe remembers sitting on as a kid. "Dad, you're probably going to want to sit for this. It's a long story, and there's parts you're really not going to like."

Kes lifts an eyebrow at his son, but he complies. Rey and Poe sit across from him. Poe looks at Rey. "Where do we start, Beautiful?"

Kes interjects, "How about you start with when you two met?"

Poe shakes his head. "No, Dad, this goes back further than that. And where this starts is what you're really not going to like."

Rey takes his hand again, squeezing it tight. Kes notices. "How bad can this be that you're afraid to tell me, Poe?"

Poe looks at Rey, and she motions with her head, encouraging him to tell the story. Poe sighs and looks at Kes. "Dad, it's bad," he pauses, "It was months ago. I was on a mission for Leia, General Organa, and after having to watch Stormtroopers execute a village full of innocents and burn it to the ground, I ended up getting captured by the First Order and being questioned by Kylo Ren."

Poe is looking down at his hand, joined with Rey's. He's so focused on the story and their joined hands that he doesn't see Kes stand up, a horrified look on his face, but Rey does. She silently shakes her head at Kes. He frowns but stays silent as Poe goes on. "It was pretty bad – you know how the Sith 'interrogate' people."

Kes has a sheen of tears in his eyes. "How did you escape, son?" He comes over and crouches down in front of Rey and Poe, his hand landing on Poe's knee.

Poe takes a deep breath. "Yeah, now is when I tell you about Finn, too." Before Kes can ask what that means, Poe elaborates, "Finn saved me. He got me out of the interrogation room, and I got us out in a TIE fighter."

"So, he was Resistance, but infiltrated the First Order ship?" Kes looks confused.

"No, Dad." Poe finally looks up and meets his Dad's eyes. "He was a Stormtrooper." Kes blanches, and Poe goes on, "He risked himself to save me. He was kidnapped as a little kid, but his brainwashing, training, didn't take. He wanted out. He's a friend, Dad. Hell, I named him." At that, Kes drops back to sit on the ground. "His name was, would you believe this? FN2187. He had a number. A designation. Like a machine. I just took the FN and named him Finn."

"So, how do you play into this, Rey?" Kes looks at her.

They slide off of their log, sitting on the ground to face Kes. Over the next twenty minutes, they explain everything that happened after Finn and Poe crashed their stolen TIE fighter on Jakku. Kes scowls at Poe over the dreadnought (though he acknowledges that the dreadnought would've just tracked them through hyperspace and destroyed the fleet), and the story of the attempted mutiny earns Poe a whack to the back of the head. His dad apologizes immediately, but Poe waves it off, noting that it was entirely deserved.

They go on to explain Poe's newfound Force-sensitivity, their Force-bond that emerged from their connection after he tried to escape his nightmares on the lookout platform at their current base. They also tell him about the ill-fated scouting mission that lost them an X-Wing and gained them a TIE fighter.

They finish with Leia making Poe 2IC of the Resistance, and Poe has to smile fondly at the way that makes Kes smile with pride. Of course, his dad then notes, "Leia must really like you, to promote you like that no matter how much you've screwed up."

Poe rolls his eyes at that. "Thanks, Dad." Rey just laughs.

"I just call it like I see it, kid." Kes smirks at him before growing more serious. "That's a lot to digest, Poe." He peers at Rey. "I'm guessing that you, Little Jedi, would like to spend some time with the Force tree?"

"If I could, sir." Rey nods, trying not to seem too enthusiastic. "But we also are here to look around the old base, to see if there's anything salvageable."

Kes looks thoughtful at that. "You know, I've only been in the hangar part, but never into the base itself, not since we evac'ed to Hoth over thirty years ago. It's certainly possible. I don't think that the ensuing battles over Yavin ever impacted the interior of the base."

"Dad, why have you been to the hangar?" Poe looks at him curiously. "You haven't learned to fly, have you?"

Kes snorts. "Kriff no. I leave that nonsense to you. But Shara's A-Wing is there. I can't bear to let it fall into disrepair, but in case the First Order decides to scan, I want it out of sight. We should probably move the Falcon and your X-Wing over there too. It's not a long walk."

Poe sits up a little straighter. "Wait, Mom's A-Wing is still operable? I thought it was damaged when I was at the Academy?"

"It was." Kes looks down. "I thought about just leaving it broken, but your mom would have kicked my ass for that. So, I got someone to help me move it over to the old base, and I repaired it. Took well over a year. I probably should have told you, but it didn't seem important."

"It's important now, Dad. When the First Order blew up the cruiser hanger before Crait, we lost all of our fighters. We have less than a dozen now, and that's cobbled together." He takes a deep breath. "Dad?"

"You want to take it back with you, don't you?" Kes looks up at him.

"Only if you'll let me. If you don't want me to…"

Kes shakes his head, and Poe's heart sinks. But then, his dad swallows hard. "Take it. If you think it's air-worthy, and you think it will help, take it."

Rey senses that this is an important moment for father and son, so she slides back, standing up to go look out over the vista provided by the ridge they're on. She hears Poe say, "Dad, you don't have to say yes. It's all right if you don't want me to take it."

Kes takes a deep, rattling breath and shakes his head again. "No. It's what Shara would want, and you know it. This First Order stuff would break her heart."

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Poe and Kes stand, and Poe wraps his dad up in a hug. "Dad, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, kid. I'm not the mechanic your mother was. It may not be as functional as I think." Kes gives him a rueful smile.

Rey senses an opportunity. She walks over to Kes and weaves her arm through his. "Well, lucky for you both, you have me, Rose, and Chewie. We'll get it in the air even if it's a mess."

Kes smiles at her. "Really, Little Jedi?"

Rey smiles back, loving that he's apparently given her a nickname. "Really. I'm good, Chewie's better, and Rose is amazing."

"That tiny girl?" He grins. "I'm going to like her, aren't I?"

"You are." Poe nods, and he shoots a wave of gratitude at Rey for lightening the moment. "She's damned feisty."

Rey pulls Kes with her over to the edge of the ridge. She points to what is clearly an old temple. "Is that where the old base was?"

He nods, pointing out the old guard towers and the entrance to the hangar. They stay up there a while longer before going back down to the house to make some lunch for everyone. After that, Poe and Chewie decide to move Poe's X-Wing and the Falcon to the old hangar. Rose and Finn ask to ride along, and Kes says he's going to stay around the house, noting that there's always something to do.

As they gather up to head to the ships, Poe turns to Rey. "You stay." He points at a large tree over her shoulder. "Go check that out. Dad knows I was going to show it to you – he's staying to keep an eye on you."

"Poe, he doesn't have to." She shakes her head.

"He wants to. Not to get too flippant, but welcome to life with my dad. You're already one of his. You know that, right? As far as he's concerned, this," he taps the ring on her right hand, "Means you're his daughter. I'm good with that. You spend a lot of time trying to protect me. Now he's going to spend a lot of time trying to protect you."

She blinks several times, fighting back tears. She whispers, "I don't know how to be a daughter, Poe."

He leans forward, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. "You didn't know how to be a friend or a partner, either, and you're damned good at both of those things, Beautiful. You're a quick study. All you have to do is care about him and let him take care of you a little."

"Caring about him I can do. But you know I struggle with people taking care of me."

He touches his forehead to hers, smiling gently. "I do know. But I still try, too. Just let him. Within reason. If he hovers too much, tell him – just like I tell you."

She nods, laughing quietly. "Point taken, Flyboy."

He can tell that she's all right and excited about the Force tree, so he gives her a quick kiss on the lips and pulls away. "Enjoy yourself, Beautiful. And really, let Dad know if you need anything."

"I will." She gives him a wave, and he and BB-8 head for the X-Wing. Moments later, it's in the air, speeding just above the treetops, heading for the old base. She senses someone behind her, and she turns. "I'm going to go look at the tree, if that's all right, sir?"

Kes comes over and hugs Rey lightly. "Little Jedi, stop calling me 'sir.'" She blushes and looks down, but he goes on, using two fingers under her chin to tilt her face back up. "It's Kes. Or even Dad, if that's what you're comfortable with."

She gives him a half smile. "Kes," she tries it out, "Yes, that'll do."

"Good. Now go check out the tree, Little Jedi." He shoos her away with his hand. "I'm here if you need anything."

She smiles again. "Thank you, Kes."

He waves, and he heads back inside. Rey takes a deep breath, turning back and walking towards the Force tree. She felt the Force very strongly here from the moment they landed in the Falcon; now that she's focused on the tree, the air around her feels charged.

The tree, given that it's only about thirty years growth from a sapling, is far larger than she expected it to be. She remembers Luke and Poe both referencing the fact that Poe climbed it. It must have grown far more quickly than an average tree. She makes a note in her head to ask Kes about that later. Either that, or if Luke shows up, she can ask him.

As she nears the tree, it begins to feel nearly magnetic to her. She's not sure she could turn away if she wanted to, which scares her a little. It must be enough to alert Poe, because she hears his voice in her head. "You all right, Beautiful?"

"I'm fine. It's just pulling me in. I'll call you if I need you, I promise." She thinks the words along with what she hopes is a reassuring wave, and she hears his agreement in her head.

A moment later, she's inches from the large tree. She looks up at it, watching as the wind moves through the branches. After hesitating briefly, she places her right hand on the trunk, putting her palm flat against it. Instantly, the breeze picks up, and she can feel the Force more acutely than ever before. Seconds later, she hears, "I figured you would make it here sooner or later."

She turns, eyes widening at the sight of Luke perched on one of the tree's large roots. She takes her hand off of the tree. His images shimmers for a moment, but then it stabilizes, tinged in blue but very real. "Master Luke!"

He smiles. "It's good to see you again, Rey." He pats the tree root next to him. "Sit."

She comes over and settles next to him on the root. "Why did you show up this time? I'm not struggling the way I was before."

"You're right, you're not. You're even a fledgling teacher. You've actually done quite well with Poe, given that his command of the Force is not necessarily natural." Luke looks at her. "The ease with which the two of you mentally connect is remarkable, especially given how little training you've had. The natural ability you have is something I've honestly never seen, not even in Ben. His ability came from a dark place, from a need for control and power. Yours does not."

She nods, and he goes on, "But your raw power, raw ability, Rey, it is like nothing I've ever seen."

She looks at him. "Does it still scare you?"

He has the good grace to look embarrassed. "Not like it did. I'm sorry for that, Rey. I made an assumption about you and whether you would be able to manage it. It was an incorrect assumption." He pauses, clearly considering his next words carefully. "You have near-perfect internal balance. You understand the Dark, but you favor the light. But maybe that demand for perfection is what damned both the Sith and the old Jedi Order. You strive for the good, not for the perfect."

She stays quiet, thinking about that, so he continues. "I thought before that your bond with Poe was keeping Kylo Ren from you. Now, I think it's more than that. I think that you chose to kill the bond with Kylo, that you managed to destroy what Snoke built by deciding you wanted it to end. Your bond with Poe just strengthened that decision, fortified the barrier."

"That makes sense. But I do still wonder…why Poe?" She looks at Luke. "I'd love him with or without the bond. I know that with absolute certainty. There has to be something in him that caused our bond, because he's learning things that require at least a minimal amount of Force ability."

"I agree. Maybe it was growing up with this tree, and maybe it was always there, dormant. A different level than you, to be sure, but there nonetheless."

"I was thinking about something yesterday; I am naturally very open with him. If I don't want him to see in, I have to put up a barrier. He is the opposite, I think. He has to let me in, and his natural position is to keep me out – though he usually is entirely open to me on purpose. Do you think it's because it's more natural to me? Or do you think he's afraid of Kylo getting in again?"

Luke stares at her for a moment before shrugging. "Ask him."

"What?"

"Rey, ask him. Talk to him about it. You're not a Jedi Master who is supposed to know everything about the Force. You're someone who loves him and who wants to help him work through a trauma. Approach it that way." She jumps a little when she actually feels him place a hand on her shoulder, patting in a comforting manner. "But Rey, he's stronger than you think. I was talking to Master Yoda about him, and Yoda is impressed that anyone who came to it so late in life, even later than you or I came to it, has any success at all."

Rey lifts an eyebrow at him. "So, is there some sort of 'Dead Jedi Club' where you all sit around drinking caf and talking about us?"

Luke chuckles, ignoring the sarcasm. "Not exactly. But kind of." He grins. "And by the way, Master Yoda saw something I didn't. He saw you steal the Jedi texts from Ahch-To."

Her eyes widen, but he pats her on the shoulder again. "I should be angry, but I can't bring myself to be."

"I just wanted them to learn, especially since you made it clear that you wouldn't teach me."

"Have you told Poe?"

"Not yet. I know I need to." She shakes her head. "He'd like to see you. Poe, that is. Can he?"

Luke shrugs again. "Maybe. That's more up to the Force than me. But maybe here. It's possible, at least." He looks at her. "Now, grab that shiny new lightsaber and show me what you can do with it. But try not to cut the Force tree in half, all right?"

She rolls her eyes, rising and pulling her lightsaber from her belt. She activates it and begins to go through some drills. Luke leans back on the root, watching and coaching occasionally. Unbeknownst to Rey, though, Poe came back from the hangar alone, worrying about her but blocking her from being able to tell, and he's watching her. Kes comes out of the house, and he watches too. "Our Little Jedi was all alone as a child, wasn't she?"

Poe nods, frowning. "Abandoned to kriffing Unkar Plutt on Jakku, forced to scavenge to survive. She had to find and sell junk just to get rations. For years."

"Who the hell would do that to a child, to their little girl?" Kes growls.

Poe, watching Rey, mutters, "People who didn't deserve her." Kes reaches up and squeezes Poe's shoulder before going silent and watching Rey as Poe is. Once again, just as he had been on the moon where he'd crashed a couple of months ago, Poe is mesmerized.

After watching for a while, Rey's near dance with the lightsaber also makes his dad catch his breath and quietly say, "Seriously, son, how did you manage to get a second look from that woman? She is breathtaking."

Poe shakes his head. "Wish I knew, Dad." He looks at his dad, smirking. "Maybe the same way you got Mom to give you a second look."

Kes nods, chuckling. "Pure luck, then."

Poe watches her a while longer before mumbling, "You have no idea, Dad. You really have no idea."


	3. Chapter 3 - Stubborn Runs in the Family

**Author's Note: So, yeah, this got fluffier than expected. More plot movement next chapter, but this was necessary for where I want to take this. OK, not *all* of it was necessary. Some was just fun.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

When Rey pauses to take a breather, Master Luke is still there. "Your control is improving, Rey. And you also have an audience."

Rey looks back over her shoulder to see both Poe and Kes watching her. She looks back at Luke. "Can they see you?"

"No, I don't think so." He smiles at her. "I should go for now. Don't need them to think you're crazy. But can you tell Kes, if you decide to tell him about this, that I said hello?"

She nods. "I will."

He begins to fade, but he calls, "And talk to Poe, Rey, about the barriers and about the books."

When he's gone, she de-activates her lightsaber and clips it back to her belt. She turns from the tree and heads back towards the house, and Poe and Kes meet her halfway. Poe cocks his head at her. "Were you talking to…"

She smiles. "Master Luke. He says hello, Kes."

Kes blinks. "Skywalker? How?" They'd just told him earlier that Luke had died after Crait.

Poe explains for her. "Force ghost. No, that's not a joke."

"Really?" Kes shakes his head as Rey confirms what Poe said. "I'll admit it, kids. This has been a very eventful day. My life is generally not this exciting anymore."

Poe laughs at that. "Sorry, Dad. Can we help you cook a highly uneventful dinner?"

He waves them off. "I already have some stew on the stove. Should be enough for everyone. But there are still some of those wild berries out in the jungle, those ones you liked when you were little. Can you and Rey go get some for dessert?"

"Sure, Dad."

Kes goes inside, and he returns a moment later with a basket and a beeping BB-8. "Take this one with you. He tends to get underfoot."

Poe laughs. "Dad, don't talk that way about your grand-droid."

Rey snorts at that as Kes rolls his eyes. Heading back inside, Kes grumbles, "At the rate you're going, that's as close to grandkids as I'm going to get."

Poe's mouth drops open, and Rey blushes bright red, mortified but also unable to stop her head from picturing a tiny girl, one with fair skin like hers and big brown eyes and wavy black hair like his. As usual, she has no block up to keep him out, and she hears his sharp intake of breath at the image from her head. She didn't think it possible, but she blushes even harder than before, looking down at the ground.

Poe quietly approaches her, hugging her to him without a word. She goes tense, her mental block now up and fear that he'll reject the idea, reject her, churning in her gut. After a moment, he says, "One day, Beautiful. One day, when everything is peaceful again. But I want one that looks like you, too."

She relaxes in his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist and clinging to him. She whispers, "Really?"

He leans away from her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Really. I mean, our kids? Will be the greatest kids in the galaxy. Little Jedi Pilots. What could be better than that?"

She laughs and hugs him to her again, saying in his ear, "I love you, Poe Dameron."

He pulls away enough to kiss her. "And I love you, Rey the Beautiful Jedi."

A moment later, BB-8 bumps gently against their legs. He beeps at them, and they both laugh. Rey pulls away to gather the basket for the berries, and Poe crouches down to pat the little droid on the head. "Yes, we love you, too, Buddy."

When he stands, Poe takes the basket from Rey before slipping his free hand into hers, entwining their fingers. They walk towards the trees, BB-8 rolling along in front of them. She shakes her head. "He's more like a pet than an astromech, you know."

He chuckles. "He really is. Easier to housetrain, though."

"But mouthier too." She grins.

Nodding, he turns serious as they take a path that leads through the trees. "What did Luke have to say this time?"

"Not too much. He apparently expected me to show up here. He also said that Master Yoda is impressed that you can control the Force at all, coming to it so late in life." She bumps his shoulder with hers.

He lets out a low whistle at that. "Really? You know Yoda was Luke's teacher, right?"

"I didn't actually, but it makes sense." She takes a deep breath. "Luke also encouraged me to tell you about something and to ask you about something else." Before he can ask, she goes on, "What I need to tell you about is something I did…something I have."

"All right," he draws the words out, wondering what it could be. "What did you do, Beautiful?"

She stops walking and looks at him. "When I was at Ahch-To with Master Luke, I saw another Force tree, and the Ancient Jedi texts were kept inside it." She releases his hand, walking over to one of the large Koyo trees near the path and sitting down with her back to it. Poe does the same, sinking down next to her, putting the basket aside and looking at her expectantly.

She sighs. "I stole them."

"I'm sorry?" He blinks in surprise. "You stole what?"

"The Ancient Jedi texts. They're in a drawer on the Falcon." He opens and closes his mouth a few times but doesn't speak. "Poe?"

He shakes his head and says incredulously, "So, what you're telling me is that there are ancient books about the Jedi religion, you stole them from the site of the original Jedi temple, and those ancient, likely sacred, books now reside in a drawer on a beat-up Corellian freighter that may actually be older than my dad and is currently the living space of a Wookie and a bunch of porgs?"

She furrows her brow. "Well, when you put it like that, it sounds terrible."

"Just calling it like it is, Beautiful."

She frowns and says crossly, "Master Luke isn't mad at me."

"Neither am I. I just…am not entirely sure how to react to that news." He lifts an eyebrow at her. "You have to admit that it's not exactly something you hear every day." He can't stop the smile creeping onto his face.

"You're laughing at me." She crosses her arms over her chest, a petulant expression on her face.

He smirks. "Only a little, Beautiful."

She tries to stay irritated with him, but his clear amusement prevents that. She huffs out a laugh and smiles in spite of herself. "I only did it because Master Luke wouldn't teach me or come back with me to help. I was mad but also truly wanted the guidance." Her smile fades. "But then I felt so guilty, I haven't touched them."

He puts an arm around her, tucking her close to his side. "And I now officially love you even more than I did before. I should call you Beautiful Thief from now on. I mean, this is a new side of you for me."

She rolls her eyes but still snuggles into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. They sit there in silence for a while, the soft sounds from the surrounding jungle and an occasional beep from BB-8 the only noises. After a while, Rey says, "Poe, can I ask you something?"

"Is it what Luke encouraged you to ask me?"

"Yes," she replies, "I asked him what he thought about something first, and his advice was to talk to you about it, because, to be honest, it was about you."

"Now I'm intrigued." He drops a kiss to the top of her head. "And you can always ask me anything, Rey."

She takes a deep breath. "When it comes to you, my natural state is to have my mind open. If I don't want you to hear something, I have to actively hide it," she pauses, "With you, I think it's the opposite – your natural state, even with me, is closed. You seem to have to actively let me in or actively give me open access. I asked Luke if he thought it might be because you're a new Force-user or maybe because of what happened with Kylo. I also even wonder if you realize it."

He goes stiff in her arms, and she pulls back slightly. She takes his hand, which is now clenched in a fist as he stares at the ground. "You don't have to answer, Poe. I just want you to be all right and to know that I want to help you with whatever you need me to."

She rubs his hand gently, and it slowly unclenches. After several minutes of quiet, he whispers, "I didn't know I even did that to you. I'm sorry, Beautiful. It's not about you. I hope you know that. I have no doubt that it's because of what Kylo did to me." He goes silent again, and she starts to worry.

"Poe. Flyboy?" She speaks softly as she moves as close to him as she can get. He doesn't look up, but he does squeeze her hand. She takes that as a good sign and goes on, "I do know that it's not about me, and I'm not hurt or upset by it. I feel your trust even when I don't hear your thoughts. And I don't need or even want you to stop protecting yourself. That is absolutely the most important thing to me – you being safe. I just want to help if I can, if it's something you even want help with."

He sighs, running his free hand through his hair before blinking and looking up at her. "Maybe. Is maybe all right?" At her nod, he relaxes further. "I want to say yes, to ask you for help, but honestly, Rey, I don't know how to even try to fix it outside of just continuing to work on our connection." He stops and thinks about it for a moment. "It's interesting – I was completely open back on that moon where I crashed. But when I think about it now, I know I was open on purpose. I wanted you in my head."

He realizes how that sounded, and he elaborates, "And it's not that I don't want you in my head all the time. But on that moon, to borrow your word, I actively wanted you there in my head. You're right about my normal state though – it's closed. It may have always been, but after Kylo…I can't be open all the time, you know?"

She nods again. "I do know. Believe me. And I think that's the part where your Force-sensitivity and control is lower than mine. I'm naturally open to you, but I'm not naturally open to anyone else except maybe Master Luke and General Organa. People I trust." She looks down at their joined hands. "For a while, I think I was open to Kylo. When Snoke created the bond, I truly thought I could turn him. I was open to him because of that."

He feels shame roll off of her. "Rey, you don't have to feel bad about that. As much as I really don't like to admit it, that makes sense. You didn't know me then – how you felt then has no relevance to us now." He thinks about it for a moment, and he surprises himself by saying, "And truthfully, if you'd truly been able to turn him, while I might never have personally trusted him – no, not might, I never would trust him – I'd be glad."

She looks up in shock, and he shrugs. "For Leia. She's lost everything and everyone. Lack of trust notwithstanding, I'd get past my grudge if it meant she could have her son back."

She presses a kiss to his temple and echoes his own words from earlier. "And I now officially love you even more than I did before."

He smiles at that, and then he stands. Holding a hand out to her, he pulls her to her feet. "Dad's going to come looking for us again."

She gives him a leering look. "Should we start making out again? If he catches us enough times, he'll stop looking for us."

He laughs and pulls her to him, dropping a quick kiss to her lips. "I like the way you think, but I'm also hungry. Let's get the berries and head back." Before she moves away from him, he kisses her once again. "But hold that thought for tonight."

"I will." She smiles briefly, but this time she stops him before he moves away. "Are you truly all right? I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know you didn't mean to, and I'm all right, or at least I'm a lot better than I was several months ago. You said you want to help, but Rey, you already have. I haven't had a nightmare in weeks, I don't wake up in a cold sweat anymore, and I'm learning how to protect myself better." He gives her a game smile. "I'm fine. Or at least I'm getting there."

She nods and lets him move away. "All right. So, berries?"

He grins and picks up the basket again. "Oh yeah. You're going to love them. They are some of the best things I've ever eaten."

"Lead the way, Flyboy." She links her arm through his, and they continue into the jungle.

Dinner that night is a raucous affair. In the morning, they plan to go check out the base, to search through what's there and to check out the A-Wing in detail. Rose did already tell them that she thinks Poe's mother's ship is in good shape, and Kes ducks his head at the flattery when Rose tells him what a wonderful job he's done with it, making Poe chuckle.

Later, though, Kes gets him back, and Poe is ready to crawl under the table as his dad regales them with stories of what Rey starts calling "Little Poe." Rose, Finn, and even Chewie are laughing so hard that they have to keep Rose upright between them, because she keeps nearly falling off of her chair.

At one point, after what feels like the tenth story about Poe climbing something tall and launching himself from it, Rey looks at him and says, "Force, it's a wonder you survived to age ten, much less thirty-two."

She has one foot hooked around his ankle, and as the evening winds down, she leans into him, her head on his shoulder. Rose leans into Finn the same way. When it starts to get late, Chewie bids them goodnight, heading back to the Falcon over at the old base. Rey and Poe shoo Finn and Rose off to bed, and they just exchange a knowing look when the pair head into the same room together, shutting the door behind them.

They make Kes sit at the bar in the kitchen while they clean up. Without talking about it, or trying, Poe and Rey fall into a rhythm, seamlessly washing and drying and putting things away without speaking. After a while, Poe notices his dad watching them with a sort of half-smile on his face. "Dad, you all right?"

Kes's smile turns full. "I am. It's nice to have some life in this house again."

"It's quiet here," Poe notes, "Quieter than I remember."

With a nod, Kes replies, "Some of the people who had settled here moved to larger settlements in other systems. I think the old base makes them uneasy – there is some concern that the First Order will start to target any of the old Rebellion bases they can find. It's not like they don't know about this one."

Drying her hands on a towel, Rey has a concerned look on her face when she comes over and joins them. "Kes, you don't think it's unsafe, do you?"

The older Dameron sighs and runs a hand through his hair in a very familiar way. "I don't know. It may just be a matter of time."

That gets Poe's attention. "What? What do you mean, Dad?"

Kes shakes his head. "You were too young to remember the way it was when you were born, Poe, two years after the battle here. The Empire was still powerful, and the First Order feels very much the same. People are afraid, and I think they feel safer in places not so strongly tied to the past."

"Dad, if you're not safe here, you need to come with us when we head back." Poe furrows his brow.

"No." Kes is resolute. "This is my home. The home I shared with Shara for the brief time we had. I'm not leaving. And it's not like being with the Resistance is all that safe, either."

"Dad," Poe starts to argue, and Kes gets up.

"No, Poe. It's not open for discussion." He looks angry for a moment before softening his expression. "I'm sorry, son. I just can't. It's like losing all I have left of your mother. I can't." He turns and heads to his room, at the opposite end of the house from Poe's. He repeats softly, "I'm sorry. Goodnight, Poe. Goodnight, Little Jedi."

"Goodnight, Kes." Rey watches worriedly as Poe goes outside without saying anything, and she sees Kes watching too. "I'll talk to him. He'll be all right. But Kes?" He lifts an eyebrow at her, and she goes on, "Think about it. If something happens to you after we leave, he'll never forgive himself for leaving without you. I didn't know his mother, but I doubt she'd want that for either of you – I also doubt that she'd want you to die alone. Please at least think about it."

He goes quiet, and after a moment, he nods. "I promise that I'll think about it, Little Jedi. But no other promises."

She walks over to him and gives him a hug. "I'll take it. But please try to remember that there is one other thing that you have left of his mother." At Kes's confused look, she says, "You have her son, too. Goodnight again, Kes."

He looks surprised at that, and then his face falls, some of his stubbornness clearly melting away. "Goodnight again, Little Jedi." He goes into his room, softly closing the door behind him.

Rey turns, following Poe outside. He's standing not far from the house, looking up at the starry sky. She comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "He promised to think about it."

Poe shakes his head sadly. "He'll never leave."

"Maybe, maybe not. Let it be his choice, Poe."

He turns in her arms, pressing his forehead to hers. "I don't want to lose him, Rey."

"Of course you don't. Give him space and a couple of days. Pushing him won't work. He's as stubborn as you are. He has to choose it for himself." She looks at him through her lashes. His eyes are closed, and she can feel his struggle.

His voice is a whisper when he responds, "I want him to meet those kids we talked about earlier. I want him here for that, for them," he pauses, "And I want him here for me and you."

"I do too, Flyboy. Just give him a little time with the idea, and don't let this ruin your visit." She takes his hand. "Come on, it's past time for bed. I know you have to be exhausted."

He nods and lets her pull him inside. They extinguish all the lights as they move through the house. When they get to his room, they take turns in the refresher and climb into his bed, him dressed in just a pair of sleep pants, her in a soft shirt she stole from him shortly after they moved in together.

He sprawls on his back, staring at the ceiling, and she turns off the light and curls into his side, her head on his shoulder. His blaster is in easy reach on his bedside table, her staff and lightsaber both in easy reach for her as well.

She draws patterns on his chest with her fingertips. His block is back up, so she says, "What are you thinking about?"

He blinks, and his block drops immediately. He thinks, "I'm sorry, Beautiful."

She feels contrition from him, but she also feels some frustration and fear for his dad. She perches her chin on his chest and looks up at him. "Don't apologize. I told you it's fine." She moves her head enough to press a kiss to his chest and snuggles down again. "I just wanted to be sure that you're all right, and I couldn't tell."

He turns on his side, looking her in the eyes. "I haven't seen him in three years, and he basically just said that he wants me to leave him here, alone and unprotected, when he thinks there may be an actual threat. I don't know that I can do that, Rey. I have no idea what to do if I can't convince him to go with us."

"We will try our best. That's all we can do. But just like you, Poe, he's a grown man, and he can decide what's too dangerous or not." She arches an eyebrow at him, repeating his words from the day they left the base.

"Point taken, Beautiful." He sighs. "I don't think I realized how much I missed him until I got here this morning."

"I can tell. The two of you are pretty adorable together. I love the way you give each other a hard time. I love how much you care about each other. I've never had anyone care about me like that."

He frowns. "Finn and Chewie…"

She shakes her head. "They care about me like a little sister, but it's not the same. It's not someone who raised me, who has known me forever. I love the ease you two have. It's ease that only time and experience brings."

He doesn't know what to say to that, so he just leans down and presses his lips to hers, pouring every ounce of emotion and love he has into it. She reacts by clinging to him, rolling him to his back, and climbing on top of him, never breaking the kiss. Caged by her body, he sits up, holding her by her hips to keep her in his lap. She laughs softly, pulling back. "Taking control, Commander?" She loosely wraps her arms around his neck, her knees on either side of his hips.

He grins at her, his hands sliding down to her bare thighs. "I've never done this in my parents' house. Certainly never in the bed I slept in as a kid."

"Having trouble getting in the mood, Flyboy?" She leans forward, nuzzling his neck and pressing her upper body to his, their skin only separated by the thin fabric of her shirt.

"Does it feel like I'm having trouble getting in the mood, Beautiful?" He presses his hips up into hers, and she gasps at the rather obvious evidence of his…mood.

He laughs, and she pulls her shirt up over her head in one motion, tossing it to the floor next to the bed. He leans in, kissing his way down her neck. Against her skin, he murmurs, "Finn and Rose are right across the hall, you know."

She leans away, her eyes locking with his. She thinks, "It's not like we need words to enjoy this."

"Like I said earlier, I like the way you think," he thinks back. He feels her hands move to the waistband of his pants, and he grins again and thinks, "We do need to be careful, you know. If Dad walks in on this, there's no way he's going to come with us."

"I don't know," she thinks, starting to work his sleep pants down his legs. He lifts up to help her get them past his hips and chuckles as she continues in his head, "At least he'll know we're practicing what we need to do when it's time for those grandchildren."

The next morning, Rose and Finn wake up first, heading into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. They're both surprised that Poe and Rey are still asleep, but they don't give it much thought. Rose is bossing Finn around the kitchen, showing him how to make pancakes. Kes laughs, surprising them both. In unison, Finn and Rose say, "Good morning, Mr. Dameron."

"Kids, it's Kes, and good morning." He pours himself a cup of caf, and then he eyes Finn closely and motions to the table with his head. Rose smiles at Kes and goes back to making breakfast, giving Finn a shove towards the table.

Finn follows Kes nervously, sitting in the chair Kes motions to. Kes takes a sip of his caf, looking at Finn for a moment before saying, "So. A Stormtrooper?"

Finn shifts uncomfortably, aware of Rose listening closely from the kitchen. "Former, sir. And I was never a particularly good one. Actually, I was objectively terrible at it."

"And you saved my son."

Blinking, Finn says, "I did, sir. But he saved me too. He was the first person to treat me like I was more than a number, more than a machine."

Kes puts his cup down, stands up, and reaches out one hand. Finn hesitates, but he then stands and takes it. Kes squeezes it tight. "Stop calling me sir." Kes pauses, then says quietly, "Thank you, Finn."

Swallowing hard, Finn smiles and nods. "You're welcome, Kes." Returning the nod, Kes releases Finn's hand.

Rose is beaming when Finn returns to her side, and he gives her a half-hug before going back to helping with breakfast. Kes turns from the table. "I'm going to go get them up. No use sleeping the day away."

Kes heads down the hallway, noting that it's completely quiet, confirming for him that they're still asleep. Kes gets to the door of Poe's room, and he knocks lightly. When they don't reply, Kes cracks the door open, peering into the still-dark room, shades drawn against the morning sun.

A part of him is slightly embarrassed by what he sees on the bed, but the other part softens, happy that his son has found a connection that means so much to him. Poe, still asleep, is on his back, shirtless, and the sheet and blanket ride low on his hips. Rey, also still asleep, is sprawled across him on her front, the sheet also covering her hips but leaving her naked back clearly visible. One of her arms is wrapped across his chest, her face in his neck, and his arm is wrapped protectively around her.

Kes softly closes the door, pulling it closed silently. He stands there for a moment, one palm stretched out flat on the door, remembering the not-nearly-long-enough time he had with Shara and feeling endlessly grateful that it seems Poe has found something that he hopes is akin to what Kes himself had with Poe's mother.

He goes back to the kitchen, suddenly determined to leave them in peace while there is even a small measure of peace to be left in. With a smile to Rose and Finn, he just asks how he can help with breakfast, ignoring their questioning looks. Rose sets him to work slicing fruit, and he says, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "So, Finn, tell me how you met Rose."


	4. Chapter 4 - Sergeant Dameron

**Author's Note: And this is longer – got away from me a bit. There's more, but it'll take time now that I'm out of weekend.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

Poe blinks his eyes open at the sound of his bedroom door closing. Rey is still sound asleep, draped over him and clinging to his torso, so he guesses that it was Finn, Rose, or his dad. He peers down at their bodies and is relieved to note that they are both mostly covered, seeing as they are both completely naked under the sheet and blanket.

He shifts a little, still slightly stiff from the trip here and now from sleeping with his Rey-blanket all night. He smiles as he looks at the top of her head, her face nuzzled into his neck. For someone who spent her entire life sleeping alone, she appears to be making up for lost time – since they've been sharing a bed, he hasn't spent a night without her clinging to him like moss on a rock. He gives her a hard time about it, but she knows that he loves it.

Shifting again, he feels her move against him. His other favorite thing about her, is that she wakes up even more snuggly than she sleeps. She yawns and presses herself even closer to him. He gives her a moment, but she doesn't stir again. He knows they need to get up, so he nudges her side and says, "Black Leader to Rey. Come in, Rey."

She snorts into his neck, making him grin. "Black Leader, this is Rey. Stop poking me."

"Sorry. But that was a nudge, not a poke." He pokes her side, making her grunt. "Now that was a poke."

She shakes her head and finally pulls back slightly, perching her chin on his chest. "Not nice, Black Leader."

He grins again. "You're not easy to wake up, Beautiful."

She smiles back. "Only when I'm with you." At his puzzled expression, she says, "Poe, I feel safe with you. Sleeping with you is pretty much the only time I've felt safe when sleeping."

He furrows his brow at that, burying a hand in her hair and pulling her up to him, pressing a kiss to her mouth. After a moment, he pulls back. "Good morning."

She gently bumps his nose with hers, eyes still closed. "Good morning."

Sitting up, she pulls the covers up to her chest. He sits up next to her. "We had a visitor earlier, probably Dad. The door closing woke me up."

She nods, leaning down and getting her shirt. She stands up and pulls it over her head. He does the same with his pants. He knows they're both worrying about modesty in case someone comes back. He notices the smell of food. "Smells like breakfast."

Going into his closet to dig in her bag, she replies. "It does. Pancakes, maybe."

He goes into the refresher, and she goes in after he's done. Ten minutes later, they're both fully dressed in a manner appropriate to exploring the old base. He's doing her hair for her when they hear a knock at the door. Poe calls to whoever it is, forgetting that he's in the middle of pulling her hair back into a tight bun.

His dad comes in, and whatever he was going to say dies on his lips. He cocks his head at the sight of Rey on the edge of the bed, Poe behind her on his knees with locks of her hair in his hands. Kes blinks. "You know, I'm not even going to ask."

Poe rolls his eyes. "Good idea, Dad." He continues working on Rey's hair. She giggles, and he admonishes her, "Stay still, Beautiful, or it won't be tight."

"Yes, Commander." She rolls her eyes, pulling a face at Kes, who laughs out loud. Then, she explains, "He likes to do my hair. I have no explanation for it."

"You do too, Rey." He finishes and presses a kiss to her temple before climbing off the bed. He looks at his dad and shrugs. "She never lets me do anything to take care of her, but she lets me do that. So, I do that."

As they go to gather their weapons, Kes frowns and says, "Kriff."

Rey and Poe both stop what they're doing to look at Kes, and Poe says, "Dad? What's wrong?"

He shakes his head. "That's so damned nice that I can't even give you a hard time about it."

Holstering his blaster, Poe huffs out a laugh. "Sorry to spoil your fun, Dad."

Rey gets her staff on her shoulder and her saber attached to her belt. She comes over to Poe and weaves her arm through his, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It really is awfully sweet."

Kes grins. "Your mom would be proud, kid. I used to do her hair for her too, by the way."

Poe blinks at that, and he exchanges a soft look with his dad. He replies quietly, "I didn't know that."

"I know." Kes winks at them. "Breakfast is ready."

At breakfast, they talk about a plan for going through the base. R2-D2 gave them a layout of the base from his time there with the Rebellion. The information is over thirty years old, but they have no reason to think that it's outdated, given the lack of activity here. Kes does recall what looked like some scavengers several years ago; he also recalls some things about the base, and he interjects on their planning, which is actually fairly limited in terms of target areas to search.

Finally, Poe looks at him and says, "Dad, just come with us."

Kes stands up to clear the breakfast plates. "I'll slow you down."

Poe shoots a look at Rey, and she motions to Finn and Rose. Finn picks up on it. "Come on, Rosie, let's go outside and get ready to go."

Rose understands immediately. "Sounds good, Finn."

They stand up and go. Rey smiles her thanks to them, and then she thinks at Poe, "Should I go too?"

He thinks back, "No. Stay. I think he may listen to you more than me."

"Stop that, you two." They both look up in surprise to see Kes standing in the kitchen, hands on his hips. "If you're going to talk about me right in front of me, at least do it so I can hear you."

"Dad, you were a Pathfinder, and you know the base. You will help us, not hinder us."

"I agree, Kes," Rey interjects before Kes can argue. "I've watched you move around this place. You are in no way out of shape."

Kes is shaking his head, but Poe walks over to him, putting his hands on his dad's shoulders. "Dad, please come with us. If nothing else, we get to spend more time together."

Rey comes over. "Poe is right, Kes. You can help us, and yes, we both really do want to get to spend more time with you."

Kes sighs. "Fine. Give me ten minutes. I'll get changed. You two put some food and water in a bag for lunch."

Poe salutes him. "Yes, Sergeant!"

"Enough, kid. And you outrank me, Commander." Kes waves him off, heading for his room.

Rey and Poe exchange a smile, and they do as Kes asked. When the supplies are packed in a bag that Poe carries, they call to him that they'll meet him outside. Five minutes later, they turn to see Kes emerge, dressed similarly to the rest of them, including a holstered blaster, one that Poe can see even from a few meters away is meticulously maintained. He also has a bag that he hands to Finn. It's loaded with flashlights and two helmets with lights attached. Finn throws the bag over his shoulder. "Thanks, Kes."

Kes has a second bag, which he throws across his body. The hike to the old base is less than fifteen minutes. Kes has a speeder, but it's too small for all of them. Since anything they decide to take back to the Resistance will go on the Falcon, they don't see a reason to take it. Rose walks up front with Kes, peppering him with questions both about the old A-Wing at the base and about his time with the Pathfinders. Finn trails them closely, occasionally inserting questions of his own, BB-8 close behind him.

Poe and Rey hang back, Poe in particular watching his dad move over the terrain. Kes was only in his 20s when Poe was born, so he's only in his 50s now. Poe sees no sign, based on how well Kes navigates the terrain – sometimes even helping BB-8 and Rose over obstacles – that his dad can no longer handle himself. Rey bumps him as they walk, and she notes, "Moves well, and did you notice that he has a second blaster under his jacket and a knife in each boot?"

Focusing on what Rey mentioned, Poe's eyes widen. "Kriff, my dad is more heavily armed than I am."

Poe must have spoken more loudly than he thought, because Kes calls back, surprising them. "Pathfinders versus pilots, kid. When I'm on the ground, I'm going to win." He stops and looks at them, grinning at Rey. "Well, maybe not against you, Little Jedi. But you, Poe? Yeah, your old man can probably kick your ass when you're not in a cockpit."

Rose and Finn laugh out loud at that, and Rey snorts again, a habit that Poe finds almost laughably endearing. He grins and shakes his head. "Pretty sure that's right, Dad."

His dad chuckles and moves on again. Minutes later, they arrive at the base. Chewie is standing near the Falcon, waiting for them. When they get to him, Kes opens his bag and pulls out a wrapped package that he hands to the Wookie. "Breakfast, my friend." Chewie barks out a thank you, and he sits down on a crate to eat.

Kes then turns to the rest of them. "What's the plan, kids?"

Poe points to Rose. "Rose, can you and BB-8 stay here and help Chewie with Mom's A-Wing? We need a full diagnostic of all systems including the hyperdrive. It has to be able to jump, because it's too big for the Falcon to carry."

"We can do that, Poe." Rose nods. "Chewie and I will get her in the air." Chewie calls out agreement to that, which Poe acknowledges with a wave. BB-8 also beeps out an affirmative, earning him a pat on the head.

Poe turns to the rest of them. "The four of us," he gestures to himself, Rey, Finn, and Kes, "Will explore inside. I prefer we all stay together, but I think, to make better use of our time, once we get to the control room, we'll split into two pairs. Finn, you'll be with me, and Dad, you with Rey."

Finn and Kes both start to argue, but Poe holds up his hands. "Not up for debate. Rey and I can communicate across the base without comms. When we split up, it makes no sense for us to go together. And Dad, you know what is valuable to the Resistance and what works, and so do I. We shouldn't go together. Also, put simply, I'm the ranking officer here, including, as you pointed out earlier, over you, Sergeant."

Kes narrows his eyes at Poe. "Retired."

"And yet still outranked, Dad, and you know it. You also know it's the right plan." They stare each other down for a moment, before Kes gives Poe a begrudging nod. With that settled, Poe points to sealed doors on the hallway that leads into the base. There are a few entrances, but according to Kes and to R2's intel, these are the ones they need. "First off, we need to get the doors open. Rose, BB-8, before you start working with Chewie, we could use your help with that."

"Of course!" Rose and the droid move over to the controls. "But Poe, the base is mostly without power. I may be able to unlock them, but you'll likely have to pry them open."

"Understood, Rose." He looks over and sees Rey eyeing the doors, almost like she's sizing them up. He can actually see her mind going through multiple options around how to open them. He walks over to him. "Beautiful, your thoughts are going a mile a minute, but I can suddenly tell that you have an idea."

She looks at him. "If they can unlock them, I can open them."

He grins. "Can I try first?"

After studying him for a moment, she agrees. "We'll treat it as a teaching opportunity. Start trying to get centered, focused, now." She pats him on the arm, and he nods, heading over to the doors and closing his eyes, focusing his mind, thinking about the various mechanisms and moving parts that go into how they open and close.

Kes overhears and approaches Rey. "Try what?"

"We may not have mentioned that, Force-wise, Poe can do a little more than just connect mentally with me," Rey explains.

"Really?" Kes sounds intrigued but not worried.

Rey goes on, "Really. At first, we just worked on strengthening our bond and lengthening the distance we can connect through. But I also have been helping him block people out."

Understanding dawns on Kes's face. "You've been teaching him…"

"How to protect his mind. Yes." Her eyes meet Kes's. "I don't ever want him defenseless like that again." She swallows hard, and then she gives Kes a small smile when he reaches out and squeezes her hand in gratitude for protecting his son. "But he's Poe, and so he wanted to try to learn how to move things around, too."

Kes laughs. "Of course he did. Any success?"

To his obvious surprise, Rey nods. "Some. He gets better every time he tries, actually. Now, I want to go help him focus, to see if he can move the doors at all."

Rey joins Poe, placing a hand on his lower back. Just as she gets to his side, Rose calls that the doors are unlocked. Kes, though curious, realizes that Poe might not want an audience for this. He calls BB-8, Finn, and Rose over to the A-Wing with Chewie, showing them a few things on the old ship and giving Rey and Poe some privacy.

"Clear your mind and just focus on the doors and what you want to happen, Flyboy." She speaks quietly to him, not wanting to cloud his mind with her thoughts. She can feel him trying, but after a few minutes, nothing happens. He retreats, and she can tell he's puzzling it out, his active mind trying to solve this like any other battle strategy. His head is a jumble, but then a clear thought pings from his head to hers.

She blinks and asks, "What do you mean, you're overthinking it?"

He smiles, glad she got the gist of what he was getting at mentally. "Rey, it just occurred to me that when I have my best success at this stuff is when I'm not really trying very hard."

"Say more," she says, echoing something Luke once said to her when she was puzzling through something. For this to work, he has to be the one to solve the problem, because she's beginning to understand that there is no one correct way to tap into the Force, that every user is a little different.

"When I fly, the reactions and actions are ingrained. I don't actually have to think about it much. Part of why I'm so good," she smirks, and he shrugs, "It is what it is, Beautiful. Anyway, part of why I'm good is that I don't overthink every maneuver. They're natural. And as I was thinking about this, I remembered something from our first time out in the forest, practicing our connection. We joined hands, and then I made a bad joke – and boom, the connection was made."

She arches an eyebrow. "So, you think bad jokes are the key to this for you?"

He rolls his eyes, not noticing that Kes has moved within earshot and is listening closely. "No. But it wasn't…forced…yeah, ignore the pun this time. It just came. I think I'm trying so hard to make it happen that it can't actually happen." He is focused on her and still, to some peripheral extent, the doors as they talk. "I think, in my head, that I know it should be easy. But I'm trying so hard that it can't be. I'm getting in my own way."

He looks at the doors as she watches him, intrigued. For a natural user like her, this isn't the issue she has – her issue is more containing and directing the Force – his is tapping into it. Kes watches closely too, interested and frankly impressed by the way his son is approaching this. Poe's shoulders, tense before, go loose, and he closes his eyes, exhales, and reaches out a hand towards the doors. He flicks his wrist a little, and both Rey and Kes gasp audibly when the doors slide almost completely open.

Their gasps make Poe open his eyes, and he lets out a happy whoop before picking Rey up and spinning her around in his arms. She laughs, and Rose and Finn come over, both exclaiming over the fact that he did it. Even Chewie makes an approving comment.

He puts Rey back down on her feet, grinning. "I can't believe that worked."

She presses a quick kiss to his lips. "I can – it was a brilliant way to look at it. Now let's go, Flyboy."

When he turns, Kes is there behind him. "Now that was impressive, kid." Poe just shrugs and rubs the back of his neck with one hand, still smiling. Kes claps him on the shoulder and moves towards Rey.

They motion to the others. Finn hands out flashlights, and Poe and Kes put on the lighted helmets. With a wave to Chewie, Rose, and BB-8, Poe takes the lead into the dark, long-abandoned hallway into the old base, Finn and Rey both with a small cart in case they find things to bring back. They work their way in slowly, keeping an eye out for any animal life in particular that might have moved in. It's eerily quiet, though. Their plan is to hit the control room first, but it's deeper in the base than they thought.

When they finally get to what used to be the control room, they can see that it is mostly stripped. The equipment that is here is damaged, probably why it was left behind. They do see some smaller computing and comms units that are still usable, though, and Kes and Rey load them into her cart. When he's done, Poe points down one hallway, picturing the specs in his head.

"Training area and medical, Rey, you and Dad." He points down another, "Weapons storage, you and me, Finn." They all agree, and Poe looks over at Rey. "Check in every ten minutes. If comms don't function well for some reason," he taps his head, "This way."

"Will do, Flyboy." With a wave, they head off down their hallway, Poe and Finn going in the opposite direction. What none of them notice is a small motion-sensor beacon activated in a dark, dusty corner of the control room.

Rey and Kes move carefully down their dark hallway, Kes in the lead, blaster drawn and lighted helmet illuminating their path. After a few minutes of silence, Kes asks, "How strong is he in the Force, Little Jedi?"

Though she keeps moving, Rey sighs. "We don't know yet, Kes. We're just starting to figure it out. If you're asking me if your son is going full-on Jedi, no, I don't think so. If you're asking if he can do a lot more than Luke or I expected, the answer is definitely yes."

"Neither Shara nor I had any real Force-sensitivity. Isn't it usually genetic?"

She shrugs. "Well, apparently my parents were junk traders who sold me for drinking money, so I don't know if lineage is the only way for it to happen. I mean, I'm a nobody from nowhere, and here we are."

He stops walking at that, and she almost collides with him. He turns, pushing his helmet up so the light isn't in her eyes. He looks stricken. "Rey, I'm…"

She shakes her head and wraps her arms protectively around her body. "You don't have to be sorry. You didn't abandon me. They did."

Kes gets tears in his eyes, even as he feels rage well up inside. He holsters his blaster and steps towards her, wrapping her up in a hug. As wanted and loved as hugs from Poe make her feel, or how valued and protected Finn's and Chewie's hugs make her feel, this is different. While she's not a child anymore, this feels like the hug she longed for as a lonely little girl on Jakku.

Kes is a little taller than Poe, and the top of her head is barely level with his eyes. Kes whispers fiercely in her ear, "You are not nobody, Rey. I don't know who told you that, but they were wrong. You matter, and not just because you're a Jedi. You matter because you are Rey. You are you. That is more than enough to make you matter, to me, to Poe, to Finn and Rose, to all of us. You are enough."

He leans away from her, wiping tears from her cheeks. "And I will gladly take on anyone who argues that point."

She smiles through her tears before stepping back from him, a little embarrassed at her outburst. "So, this is what it's like." Kes looks puzzled, so she adds, "To have a father."

He ducks his head. "So it would seem. Poe loves you – enough to put his mother's ring on your hand – as far as I'm concerned, that makes you my daughter as much as Poe is my son."

Poe, on the other side of the base, must sense her emotional struggle, because he pings her mentally. "You all right, Beautiful?"

She thinks back, "I'm fine, Flyboy. Promise."

He acknowledges with a thought to reach out if she needs him, and she sends a warm wave back. Kes lifts an eyebrow. "He checked on you, didn't he?"

She smiles. "He did."

"That's still something for me to get used to." Kes gives her a smile back. "Shara would love this. And she'd be a lot better at navigating it than I am."

She motions with her head, and they start moving again. She looks at him with a shy smile. "I wish I'd known her."

Kes nods sadly. "Me too, Little Jedi. You two would've liked each other a lot." They continue down the hall in comfortable silence, Kes contemplating the young woman with him, her relationship with his son, and what Shara would want him to do when they leave.

On the other side of the base, Poe and Finn get to the weapons storage area. A lot of it is empty, but on the back wall, Poe sees a huge stack of crates and covered pallets. Pulling the drop cloth off of one of the pallets, Poe lets out a low whistle. "Jackpot, my friend."

The pallets, clearly stuff the Rebels didn't get to when they evacuated here, are loaded with large bombs and targeting missiles. Finn cracks open a crate and makes a similar find. The crate is loaded with blasters, grenades, and other ground-forces weaponry that Poe is certain his dad is going to love. Finn looks at Poe. "We need to get Chewie and some cargo movers to get these to the Falcon."

"Agreed." Poe nods. He thinks at Rey, "Find anything, Beautiful? We are going to get Chewie – we have a lot of weapons to load up."

In what was the medical bay, Rey is loading up their cart with bandages and wraps. The bacta patches they found were deteriorated, but they did find some containers of bacta gel. Those are already loaded in the bottom of their cart. She thinks back, "We did. Nothing in the training room, but we have some medical supplies we're loading up now. Not a ton, but anything would help."

"Meet you and Dad up in the hangar?" His thoughts are happy at their find, so she knows it must be a lot of weaponry.

"Sounds good, Flyboy." She thinks back, loading up the last of the remaining medical supplies. She looks at Kes. "They found a bunch of weapons."

Kes grins. "Can't wait to check those out."

"We're meeting them back in the hangar." She motions with her head, pushing the cart along as he leads them back out. He tried earlier to get her to take the lead and him the cart, but she refused. The cart isn't that heavy, and she likes the workout pushing it provides.

Fifteen minutes later, they emerge into the hangar. Rose tells them that Chewie, Finn, and Poe already went back down into the base with a few cargo movers from the Falcon. Rey nods, taking the cart up into the Falcon and unloading it into the ship's storage closet that's mostly dedicated to medical supplies. When she's done and has the small cart stowed, she comes out of the Falcon to the sound of the A-Wing coming to life. Rey grins, moving over to the small ship. Rose is in the cockpit, and her grin matches Rey's.

Rose shuts the engines back down and says, "It's good to go, Rey. I had to tweak the hyperdrive a bit, but all looks good now."

Climbing out of the small fighter, Rose looks at Kes. "Kes, I thought Poe should be the one to test it out, seeing as it's his mom's ship."

He nods. "Thank you, Rose. He'll appreciate that."

A few minutes later, the others emerge from the interior of the base, three fully-loaded cargo movers with them. Chewie calls Kes over, so, with a nod, he joins them, sending Poe over to the A-Wing. Poe walks over to Rose and Rey. "Is everything all right?"

Rose grabs an old helmet she found in the cockpit, one with Poe's name on it. Poe grins. "Wow, that's a relic of the past." He turns the helmet over in his hands. "I thought I lost this before I left for the Academy. Dad must have found it?"

With a smile, Rose nods. "He put it in the cockpit so it wouldn't get lost again." She motions with her head. "Want to take her for a spin?"

Poe does a double-take. "She's ready?"

Rey smiles at the use of "she" in relation to the small fighter. "She is." Rey looks over at his X-Wing, parked nearby. "Can I follow in yours, just in case you have trouble?"

"Probably a good idea, Beautiful." He pulls his old helmet on. "My helmet is in Black One. Just use that." Luckily, all the ships are fully fueled. One thing that had been left behind were large fuel reserves. Chewie loaded extra, whatever he could carry, on the Falcon.

"Sounds good, Flyboy."

Moments later, the others watch as Rey and Poe climb into the fighters, firing them both up. They are up on comms, and they leave the channel open for everyone to hear them. BB-8 rolls up to the A-Wing, but Poe waves him over to Rey. "Sorry, Buddy. No room for you in here. Only enough space for me. Go with Rey."

They both close their hatches, and Rose gets BB-8 loaded into Black One. Rey asks over comms, "So, Flyboy. Looks like I'm Black One today. Who are you?"

He grins, noting that she relinquished the "Leader" title and remembering his mom's old squadron. "Green Leader."

Down in the hangar, Kes hears that and looks up. "Good choice, kid."

"Thanks, Dad." He looks over at Rey in his X-Wing. "Race, Beautiful?"

"I know for a fact that an A-Wing is fast as hell, so I'll just try to keep up, Flyboy."

He laughs. "Going to keep it low – I need to make sure all of the controls are good. Just stay a little above and behind, all right?"

"Sounds good, Green Leader."

With that, Poe pulls his mom's ship up off the ground, and with memories of many an afternoon in this seat as a teenager flooding his head, he grins and punches it, shooting out of the hangar at a break-neck pace. Rey swears, immediately pulling the X-Wing up and shooting out of the hangar behind him. She calls back to Kes over comms, "Force, I bet he was a pain in the ass as a teenager, wasn't he?"

She hears Poe's laughter at the remark over comms as he zips along the top of the trees, Kes laughs too. "You have no idea, Little Jedi."

They go quiet then, her tracking close behind him as he tries out the controls on his small fighter, skimming the trees and skirting through valleys and along ridges with an agility that blows Rey's mind. He picks up on her surprise, thinking, "Yeah, Beautiful, A-Wings are different. A lot faster and a lot more maneuverable. But also a hell of a lot smaller and more exposed. It's basically a cockpit with engines and guns."

Testing out all the controls and systems, Poe flips on the long-range scanners and communications. He expects nothing from them, so he's surprised to pick up a large contact on the other side of the moon, looking like a large shuttle and several light ships. "Kriff." Before anyone can ask him what's wrong, Poe calls, "Dad, how often are supplies dropped off here?"

Kes's worried voice comes over comms as Rey echoes in his head that she's scanning. "Had a delivery five days ago, kid, don't expect another one for weeks."

"That's what I was afraid of. Rey, turn it around. Head to Dad's house, now." He hits the controls hard on his little ship, turning sharply. A lesser pilot would have lost control. "Dad, is everything on the Falcon?"

"Yes, Poe, but what is going on?"

"Chewie, get everyone on the Falcon. Keep it very low and meet us at Dad's house." Chewie calls out an affirmative, and Poe hears Rey swear as he had before. "Dad, it's a contact in the outer atmosphere. Definitely a large shuttle, but also several light ships, likely fighters given the ping I'm getting. It's got to be First Order."

By that time, he's to his Dad's house. He leaves his little ship powered up, climbing down and sprinting inside. He heads for his room, grabbing his bag and Rey's. He sweeps a few keepsakes, including several family photos, into the bag. By the time he gets back out in the hall, Rey is there. She gathers Rose's and Finn's bags from their room. "Poe, I think you're right. I think Kylo is with them. I feel it. I want to take a piece of the Force tree, in case he decides to destroy it."

Poe grabs two empty bags from a storage locker in the hallway. "Do it." He tosses her one bag, and he goes to his dad's room with the other.

There's a commotion in the front of the house, and Kes slides into his room right behind Poe. Poe turns. "Dad, the decision's being made for you. We have to go."

Kes frowns. "Poe, you could be overreacting. I…"

"Dad!" His dad stops, surprise on his face. "It's the First Order. It has to be. Rey thinks Kylo Ren is with them. We have minutes. Maybe less. I cannot leave you here. He knows you. He will kill you, or worse, use you to get to me. Please."

Kes holds out his hand for the bag. "All right."

They get as many things into the bag as they can, extra weapons, clothes, photos, and several books and holo-chips. As they exit the bedroom, Kes grabs a few more photos from the walls. Finn meets them at the door, holding his and Rose's bags along with Rey's and Poe's. Kes takes one of the larger bags, a pack that he shoulders into before throwing his own bag across his body. Finn says grimly, "We have to run. The shuttle and fighters are heading this way."

Poe hugs his dad tight to him. "Go, Dad. Rey and I will be right behind you." He looks at Finn. "BB-8 will get you coordinates for a hyperspace jump. Hopefully this shuttle isn't capable of hyperspace-tracking. We'll all meet up far away from here."

As they all bolt from the house, Poe towards the Force tree and Rey, and Finn and Kes towards the clearing where Chewie and Rose are waiting with the Falcon. At the tree, Rey has her lightsaber out, and he can see that she is arguing with someone. He's shocked to see a blue-tinged Luke Skywalker standing there. As he skids up to them, Rey says, "Master Luke, I will not allow the last Force tree to be destroyed. I am taking a piece of it."

Luke looks like he's going to argue, and Poe just says, "Rey, do it, now." He turns to the ghost before him, not taking the time to dwell on how strange this all is. "Luke, good to see you. Been awhile. We don't have time for philosophy. Thanks for Crait, but we need to go. Now."

Rey whips her saber three times, taking a piece of root, a branch full of leaves, and a piece of the trunk. She stows them all in the bag. As they turn, though, the shuttle arrives, hovering over the house.

It's a First Order Command Shuttle, the type Kylo uses. It gets low, and even as Poe and Rey sprint for their fighters, a ramp opens on the shuttle. A figure in black stands on it. Rey gets to Black One and throws the tree pieces up into the back of the cockpit. "BB-8, fire it up!"

"Poe, Rey, we're up and engaging the TIE fighters with the Falcon. Are you clear?" Kes's voice is anxious over the comms.

"Not yet, Dad…" Poe trails off, watching in horror as the figure in black jumps from the shuttle, landing easily on his feet in the open area between Rey's and Poe's fighters. "We need cover, Dad. Pretty sure Kylo Ren just jumped out of the shuttle."

"Poe, get the hell out of there! Both of you!" Kes sounds desperate now.

Poe watches as the shuttle hovers and the Falcon takes out fighter after fighter. But a few remain. "Dad, we're not leaving until that shuttle moves. It has cannons trained on both of our fighters. We can't get off the ground without getting killed."

Kes yells, "All right son. When we're done with the fighters, we'll come after the shuttle so you can get out."

"Thanks, Dad." Poe looks over at Rey. Feeling ill, he knows Rey heard the conversation, because she slowly turns towards Kylo, her lightsaber coming to life.


	5. Chapter 5 - I Am Not Alone

**Author's Note: OK, I got in a bit of trouble for the Cliffhanger, so I banged out this short follow-up. There will probably be one more chapter for this story.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

Rey and Kylo advance on each other slowly, both with lightsabers on and waving, and Poe can feel Rey's anger and apprehension with every step. "Why are you here, Kylo?"

"A motion-activated beacon went off in the old Rebel base. I wasn't far away, so, when I recognized this moon's designation, I decided to check it out myself." He sneers at her.

Poe stays behind his A-Wing, keeping out of Kylo's line of sight and making sure his mental blocks are up. He then makes himself relax and lets his wall down just for her.

He shoots a guarded thought at Rey, hoping that her bond with Kylo is well and truly severed. "Beautiful, I'm here. I've seen what he can do with blaster fire, so I'm not going to bother."

"Flyboy, you stay out of sight." She thinks back.

"No can do, Beautiful. But when I do show myself, I want it to count." He thinks for a moment. "He doesn't know that I'm the one here, and he doesn't know about our bond or what I'm capable of. We have tactical advantage, Rey. We need to use it if we want to get out of this." He can almost hear her hesitate, and he thinks fiercely, "And don't even consider the idea of sacrificing yourself for me. If he takes you, I'm following. I will show myself and let myself be taken too. Understood?"

She thinks back, "Damn it, Poe."

He creeps along the edge of his A-Wing, trying to get a clear sight line to her and to Kylo. Her emotions are running wild, and he needs her to focus. Trying to get her to settle down, he thinks, "See, now you sound like my dad."

It has the desired effect. Her mind relaxes and clarifies for a moment. He takes the moment to think, "Once the Falcon gets the shuttle to engage, we need to be able to get to our fighters and jump almost immediately. I'm going to comm BB-8. He'll have Black One ready to jump. All you'll need to do is get in and take off. We just need to distract Kylo until then and find a way to draw him off when it's time. Warm-wave me if that works." He refers to the way they often confirm things to each other.

The warm wave hits him, and he lets out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He thinks, "All right, Beautiful. Do what you can. I'm working on what I'm going to do, and I'll make the call to BB-8. I love you." Another warm wave hits him.

He doesn't have time to enjoy it, though, because he hears Kylo say, "I know you're not here alone, Rey. Where is the Stormtrooper? FN2187, right?" He hears the unstable swoosh of Kylo's saber.

"He's not here, Kylo." Her voice is strong, and Poe can see that she's making him circle with her, swirling but not engaging yet.

"What, no more 'Ben?'" When she doesn't respond, he yells, "Why can't I feel you anymore?" Kylo sounds angry. Poe worries that he's even more unstable than before.

Rey laughs, making Poe cringe and want to tell her to not taunt him. She calls back. "Because I don't want you to. Snoke used both of us. But he took far greater advantage of me. That's done. You are no longer welcome in my head."

"I'll get in eventually, Rey. You are alone. I'm the only one left who understands you, who understands the power you have. I'm the only one who sees your value." He tries a similar tactic to the past.

"No, Kylo. I'm not alone, and you aren't the only one who understands me. And you don't understand me at all if you think I'd be even mildly tempted by offers to rule the galaxy. I don't want or need to rule anything, and you? You aren't fit to." That's the taunt that finally makes Kylo engage, and it takes everything Poe has to stay put, to wait for the right time.

Over comms, he told BB-8 and the Falcon the plan. His dad, of course, did not approve, though it was mainly because the plan isn't exactly what one could call fully-baked. Now, he has to listen to the Falcon pick off the TIEs one at a time while he watches Rey engage in a saber battle with Kylo Ren. The two lock lightsabers, and she pushes him off, and Poe watches, unable to look away as what is usually a dance in his mind becomes a deathmatch.

He has no doubt that Kylo has recognized her for the threat that she is and is actively trying to kill her. He can feel the same thing from her, though he knows that she'll disengage when she needs to in order to protect them all – one of the things that will always differentiate them. Poe continues to move along his edge, cover provided by the trees and by their two ships. The shuttle casts a dark shadow over his father's small piece of land, useful cover provided in that artificial darkness as well.

Poe has to hold himself in check again when he hears Kylo say, between strikes of his saber against hers, "I can't wait to kill you and then my mother. She sacrificed my childhood to her precious Republic, resented me because I wasn't a perfect, happy child, and then gave me to Luke, who tried to kill me. My father deserved what he got for allowing it."

He hears cheers erupt from the Falcon at the same time that he hears Rey yell, attacking Kylo viciously. Sparks fly from his saber as it clashes with hers, and Poe exhales in relief when he pushes her away. Then, he hears his dad's voice. "We're on our way Poe. Hang in there, Little Jedi. Fighters are all down, and we're about to try to engage the shuttle."

Seconds later, the Falcon screams by, passing within meters of the shuttle, firing repeatedly. The shuttle has to break and move, or else it'll be an easy target for the Falcon's blasters. Poe looks at Rey and Kylo, and they are dangerously close together, slashing and falling back in an uneven rhythm as the shuttle moves off, trying to get a bead on the Falcon.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kylo uses his hand to blow Rey back, surprising her. She stumbles, and in doing so, drops her saber. It deactivates when it hits the ground. Kylo advances on her, moving her saber away from her but then letting it go. That's when Poe sees his chance. Without using words, he flashes a mental design to her of what he plans to do and what he wants from her, and she pushes a warm wave at him as she slides backwards, away from Kylo.

In the next moment, he relaxes as much as he can, and he focuses on three things: the lightsabers, Rey's and Kylo's, and Rey herself. He purposefully empties his head of anything but Rey and the two weapons. When his head feels clear, he steps out from behind the A-Wing, yelling, "Rey!"

Kylo spins in surprise, and his eyes widen when they land on Poe. Before Kylo can reply or attack, though, Poe reaches out with his hands and with his mind. Much to his relief and surprise, both sabers, Rey's and Kylo's, fly across the clearing and straight into his open hands, Kylo's surprise leaving his loose enough in his hand for Poe to get it.

Poe blinks in disbelief that it worked, but Rey had been completely sure of him. She was waiting, and she thrusts out her hand, sending the stunned Kylo flying backwards across the clearing, slamming directly into the Force tree, which cracks menacingly at the impact.

"Go, Beautiful!" Both of them move, sprinting to their fighters. In seconds, they're both inside. Poe puts the two sabers down in his cockpit as he gets the ship ready. He doesn't even bother to take the time to yank his helmet on. The engines had been at an idle, but now they roar to life. He's about to close the hatch of the A-Wing when Kylo's saber begins to rattle on the dash.

A thought from Rey, who must sense what is happening though she is already lifting off in the X-Wing, hits him. "Throw his saber out, Poe. Now!"

He realizes that she's right. If Kylo pulls on it before he can break the atmosphere, it's likely that it would smash the canopy of Poe's fighter. He grabs the saber, propelling it with his arm combined with his mind as far as he can. When it's clear, he slams his hatch closed and punches it, right behind Rey.

They scream up into the air, and Poe yells into his comm, "Falcon this is Green Leader. We are clear; repeat, we are clear. Disengage and jump, copy?" He stays solidly in his role as leader; he won't jump until everyone else does.

Chewie yells an affirmative over the comm, echoed by Rose, who is likely co-piloting for Chewie. A moment later, he hears his dad yell, "We're about to jump, kid. And Finn and I did a lot of damage to their ship. I'm guessing that even if they can track us, they can't follow, considering what I think we did to their hyperdrive. We'll just jump a lot to be sure. See you soon, kid."

He sees the Falcon jump. "Black One, are you ready?" He calls to Rey this time.

"Ready, Green Leader. Let's get the kriff out of here." Her voice sounds shaky but determined, and that's good enough for him.

He thinks at her, "See you on the other side, Beautiful. And you were brilliant."

"So were you, Jedi Flyboy," she thinks back.

He chuckles at that and calls over comms, "Jump, Black One."

"Copy that, Green Leader." She does, and he follows, breathing out a sigh of relief the moment he knows they're all in hyperspace.

He lets his head fall back against the headrest of his seat. It's oddly quiet. Rey is there as a buzz in his head, but the feel of this fighter is different from his X-Wing. Also, without BB-8, it just feels weird. He closes his eyes. He is amazed that his plan actually worked, that Kylo had been surprised enough for Poe to take his lightsaber.

He opens his eyes again when her voice echoes in his head. "You're not the only one." That makes him smile, happy with himself for keeping himself open to her when his natural tendency is to close off.

He worries a little, though, because while she sounds calmer now, he can sense a tense undercurrent. "Are you all right, Beautiful?" He pushes the thought to her along with one of their warm waves.

He can almost hear her sigh through space. Her voice in his head is tired. "I am. It was strange – the connection with him was completely gone, which is good. But where I once saw possible redemption, there's just nothing but blind rage and hate."

He doesn't know how to respond to that. After his experience with Kylo, he had no illusions about whether the man could be redeemed. "Poe?" Her voice sounds in his head again, now sounding unsure.

"I don't know how to respond to that, Rey," he thinks back honestly, "But I'm glad the connection is entirely gone, and I'm glad we walked away from this one."

In the X-Wing, she nods. She knows he feels different about Kylo than she does, or at least did, that they have different perspectives. She thinks, "You don't have to respond to it, Poe. I think I just needed to admit it to myself, to confirm it to myself."

He can feel her fatigue and thinks to her, "Beautiful, why don't you rest a while? What just happened probably took a lot out of you, and we have a couple of hours to the rendezvous point with the Falcon. BB-8 will take care of the flying for you." She resists briefly, but she realizes quickly that he's right. She thinks back agreement, and within minutes, he feels her slip into sleep, the buzz in his mind still there, just a little muted.

In his own ship, he knows he isn't quite ready for rest. He runs his hands along the inside of the little cockpit. As much as he loves his X-Wing, he missed this ship, the ship he really learned to fly in. He closes his eyes, remembering sitting in his mom's lap, learning the controls and what each one does.

Now, in her fighter, he can almost hear her voice telling him when to turn, to lean into it, to not overthink it – to just fly. For the first time in a while, he feels a sheen of tears in his eyes as he thinks of her, missing her more acutely than he has in a very long time, picturing her eyes, so much like his own, and the wild, curly black hair that he also got from her. Thicker than Rey's hair, she used to wear it piled on the back of her head, pulled back out of her eyes but still a little loose. He grins at the thought of his dad trying to help her manage the wild black locks.

His mind settles on his dad. He feels guilty as hell about pulling him with them off of Yavin 4, but he's also profoundly relieved that his dad is safely on the Falcon. He guesses that he and the others must have set off some sort of alert at the old base, and his mind pings off of the "scavengers" his dad remembered seeing years ago.

He realizes now that the so-called scavengers were likely early First Order soldiers trying to track the fledgling Resistance in case they took up residence in one of the old Rebel bases. It's the only reason he can think of for the First Order showing up when they did.

Poe shakes his head, weariness suddenly overtaking him. Maybe he's more tired than he realized. He reaches out and sets the hyperdrive to signal him five minutes before he drops out of hyperspace. With that done, he closes his eyes again, letting his head fall back against the headrest. With the buzz of her dreams in his head, he slips into sleep himself.


	6. Chapter 6 - Consequences

**Author's Note: So, I'm home sick, so I just keep writing. And yes, a Twist. But you get Kes In Charge, which was fun for me. Anyway, there must be consequences to going from zero to sixty on Force use. Or at least there are in my head.**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

Rey wakes up with a start in the cockpit of Black One. She blinks a few times, and then she feels a pain in her head. It only takes her a moment to realize that the pain isn't hers. "Poe?" She tries to ping him mentally, but she's only met with silence and the pain. His buzz is there, but it's muted. She looks at the chronometer on the hyperdrive, and it indicates that they'll be to the rendezvous point with the Falcon in about fifteen minutes. She tries again, thinking, "Poe? Flyboy? Are you there?" She thinks he might be asleep, but the pain he's projecting is scaring her. "Poe?"

The beeping of the alarm on the hyperdrive pierces into Poe's head. He gasps audibly as pain lances through his skull. He tries to sit up, disoriented and looking around through squinted eyes. It takes him a moment to remember where he is, then he reaches out and fumbles for the hyperdrive alarm, shutting it off. There's another wave of pain, and he squeezes his eyes shut against it. He feels wetness on his face, and he realizes with dismay that he has a nosebleed. He rips off a piece of his shirt, using the cloth to try to stop the bleeding.

In the X-Wing, Rey is frantic. She hasn't been able to connect with Poe, and she's panicking. The pain in her head has intensified, and a moment ago, she also got a wave of confusion. After trying multiple times over two or three minutes, she's been pinging him every twenty to thirty seconds. She tries again, tears welling in her eyes. "Poe? Flyboy, please! Are you there? Please answer me!"

For the first time in the last ten minutes, the buzz of his presence intensifies. She sighs in relief when she finally hears his voice in her head, but the relief turns to dread at his thoughts. "Rey? Something is wrong."

In the A-Wing, Poe has gotten the blood flow mostly stopped. It's almost like he's in a cave when he hears Rey's frantic thoughts, pleading with him to answer. He tells her something is wrong, but then he has to close his eyes again against the pain. Her voice comes to him again, this time slightly calmer. "Poe, what is wrong? Are you all right?"

His thoughts are weak when they come back, and she can tell his pain is ramping up. "Don't know. Head hurts, nose is bleeding, can barely keep my eyes open. Not all right."

She addresses her most immediate concern with a quick thought, hoping the technical question will help him focus for a moment. "Are you ready to drop out of hyperspace, Poe?"

She gets a faint, "Rendezvous programmed," back, and she nods. Rey lurches a moment later when Black One drops out of hyperspace. The Falcon is there, and a moment behind her, Poe arrives too.

Rey goes to comms. "Rose, Chewie, please tell me we can land somewhere!"

Rose responds, "Rey, what's wrong?"

Rey feels the tears welling again. "I don't know. It's Poe. He's in a lot of pain and very disoriented. We need to get him out of that fighter, now."

There's a scratch, and Poe's weak voice comes over the comms. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."

"Son? What's wrong?" Kes's voice is almost as frantic as Rey's thoughts were a moment ago.

"Not sure, Dad. Was really tired after we jumped, fell asleep, woke up with a screaming headache, a nosebleed, and I can't focus very well." Poe suddenly realizes something. "Rey, we need to use comms. Mental connection hurts right now." He stops trying to let her in, and his default mental block seems to ease the pain a little.

"OK, Flyboy." Her voice is small and scared.

On the Falcon, Finn sees that Rose and Kes are both a little panicked, so he tries to lighten the moment. "Just keep it clean, you two."

That has the desired effect. Rose rolls her eyes and Kes chuckles, while Rey snorts. Poe almost laughs, but he's afraid it will hurt. He squeezes his eyes shut and furrows his brow. He hates to admit it, but Rey is right. "I need to land. Soon."

"We'll find a spot, son. Just hold on." Kes silences the comm and looks at Finn. "Do we have any intel? Where are we?" They pull up a star map, and Kes looks at it closely. He points at the map. "How far is it to Felucia?"

Chewie responds, and Rose nods. "A short jump. Ten, fifteen minutes."

Finn nods. "Felucia? That would work. The Nysillin trade isn't what it used to be, and it's mostly trading outposts and jungles. There should be plenty of places for us to put down that are secluded."

"All right," Kes takes charge, making them suddenly see the soldier in him emerge, "I'm going to call the Resistance. Even if it takes time to get to them, they need to know what happened. Important question, though. Who here can fly the fighters?"

Finn sits up straighter. "Poe has been teaching me on the X-Wings."

Rose nods. "And my sister taught me to fly. I can take the A-Wing. I can't maneuver it like Poe or Rey, but I can get it home with the hyperdrive and land it." Finn starts to object, but Rose shakes her head. "We can't make Rey fly it, Finn. She needs to be here on the Falcon with Poe, especially if they can't communicate the way they usually do."

Kes puts a hand on each of their arms. "Thank you both. Can you get the coordinates for the jump to Felucia and tell Rey and Poe? And Chewie, can you get me to the main communications console? I want to bounce a message to Leia." Finn and Rose look at him, both surprised. He shrugs. "What? I have her code. My wife was her personal pilot. Who do you think gave Shara the A-Wing?"

Finn shakes his head. "No wonder General Organa has such a soft spot for Poe."

Kes shrugs and points towards the cockpit. "Coordinates." He looks at Chewie. "Comms?"

Chewie shows him the panel, and then he leaves him alone. It only takes him a couple of minutes to record and send the message, having to gulp in a breath when he says that something is wrong with Poe, but they don't know what it is. He sends the message, hoping that it finds its way to Leia. In case it doesn't, he takes care to encrypt it with an old code Leia should recognize, and he leaves out specifics, especially not mentioning Felucia.

When he gets back to the cockpit, they just finished telling Rey and Poe what to do. Poe sounds bad on the open comm signal, insisting that he's fine, prompting Kes to look at Rose and ask, "Can you get me a private channel to him?"

"Of course," Rose presses some buttons, and Kes steps out of the cockpit.

There's a scratch, and a moment later, Kes says, "Poe?"

It's quiet for a moment, then Poe replies, "Here, Dad."

"It's just us, kid. Can you make the jump to Felucia? And I don't want you to be brave or a leader. Be my son and tell me the truth." Kes's voice breaks slightly.

"I can, Dad." Poe takes a shuddering breath. "But I don't know if I can land on anything other than something open and flat."

The words stab Kes like a knife. For Poe to admit that kind of vulnerability, that kind of frailty, is breathtaking. Kes takes a deep breath. "You can. You're going to be all right, son. I'm your father, and I'm telling you that you have to be fine."

In his A-Wing, that makes Poe smile faintly. "Yes sir."

"Then let's go, Commander."

Kes looks up to see Rose in the doorway of the cockpit. He walks over and signals to her to open the channel. "Black One, you ready to go?"

In the X-Wing, tears drying on her face, Rey swallows hard. "Yes. Should I jump first?"

"Yes, Black One. Jump, Little Jedi. We'll see you soon."

Rey sniffles over the comm, a sound that makes Kes want to give her a hug, and then she just whispers, "Black One, jumping now."

When she blips away, Kes says, "You next, kid. No arguments."

In his A-Wing, Poe mentally fights it for a moment, but he knows his dad is right. The pain is also intensifying again. With a weak voice, Poe responds, "This is Green One, ready to jump."

Everyone in the cockpit gives Kes a funny look, but he immediately understands what Poe just did. Kes swallows hard. "Green One, this is Green Leader. Jump."

Rose tears up. "He must be in a lot of pain."

Finn is a little confused, though. "Did he just…"

Kes nods, dropping into the seat behind Chewie's and running a hand through his hair. "Relinquish command? Yes, he did." He taps the back of Chewie's chair. "Let's go, old friend."

Rey drops out of hyperspace at Felucia first. Waiting for them, she racks her brain trying to figure out what happened to Poe. She jumps when she hears Luke's voice in her head. "Rey, I can see what's happening. I think it was too much, too fast for him. There are a lot of reasons we move slowly when we teach about the Force. With someone who didn't come to it naturally and young, it could be worse."

"But why was he all right when we took off from Yavin 4? He was fine." She sniffles a little.

"No, Rey. He was riding adrenaline. Once it hit him, he was out."

She blinks. "Will he be all right? That's all I care about."

"I think so." Luke's voice is serious in her head. "But you need to ease off on how much he does. I know he won't like that, but he needs to build back up slowly, probably starting with his connection with you. That connection balances and feeds you both. You both need it now."

"All right." She closes her eyes. "Thank you, Master Luke." She swears she feels a pat on her shoulder, and then his voice is entirely gone. A moment later, the A-Wing pops into view. She hits her comm and says quietly, "Flyboy?"

"Still here, Beautiful." His voice is still weak and breathy, but at least he's talking.

"Almost there, Poe." Another tear rolls down her cheek.

The Falcon comes into view. Kes's voice comes over comms. "Black One, Green One, follow us. Chewie thinks he knows where we can land."

Rey replies in the affirmative, but Poe is quiet. Kes knows they need to get him out of that ship now. "Green One, this is Green Leader. Respond."

"Got it, Sergeant." Poe's voice is still soft, but Kes is damned glad to hear it.

Chewie takes the Falcon towards the planet, and five minutes later, their three ships are descending quickly. Poe holds as tight to the controls as he can, and he's honestly terrified. He's never felt so out of control – his usual natural reactions seem to have fled completely, and it's a feeling that makes him feel even more nauseated than he already is. His vision is also greying, and he's having trouble staying awake.

Rey brings up the rear, keeping Poe between herself and the Falcon. BB-8 beeps mournfully from the back. "He'll be fine, little one. I know he will," she tries to comfort the little astromech.

The Falcon pulls up, and she hears Kes tell Poe to land first, but Rey has an idea, something she's worried about. "Kes, I'd like to get down first. I may be able to help from down there."

Kes hesitates, but he knows Rey wouldn't do anything to jeopardize Poe. "All right, Black One. Take her down."

Seconds later, Rey settles the X-Wing gently on the edge of the large clearing. She slams open her hatch as BB-8 does the shutdown sequence. Without bothering with more than the first step of the ladder, Rey leaps out. She sees Poe descending, and it was as she feared. He's coming down too fast. She focuses all of her energy and puts out a hand, steadying his ship. Sweat breaks out on her brow, but she holds the A-Wing, slowing its descent, fighting its engines. The Falcon lands as Rey slowly brings the A-Wing down.

The minute the ramp is down, Kes bolts out of the old freighter, running straight for the A-Wing as it settles with a soft thump. Rey releases the ship, and she sweeps the A-Wing hatch open with one hand as she collapses to her knees. Rose and Finn rush to her side, helping her stand again. Despite their height difference, Rose gets Rey's arm around her, and she nods towards the A-Wing. "Go help them with Poe. I can help Rey to the Falcon."

"I need to get the bag. It's pieces of the tree." Rose nods and leaves Rey leaning against the ship while she fetches the bag, then she comes back down and helps Rey to the freighter.

Meanwhile, Kes clambers up onto the wing of Poe's small fighter. He reaches in and powers it down, and then he looks at Poe. He is nearly sick at the sight of his son. Eyes closed and helmet off, sweat has plastered the black waves to his forehead. His skin is ghostly pale, and there's blood on his shirt, face, and hands, Kes assumes from the nosebleed. He reaches down and unbuckles Poe's seat harness, and he yells, "Chewie, I need help!"

Without opening his eyes, Poe winces and mumbles. "Not so loud, Dad."

Smiling ruefully, Kes shakes his head and softly brushes Poe's hair back from his forehead. "Sorry, kid." Poe gives a nearly imperceptible nod, wincing again.

Chewie gets there, and, taking Kes's place, gently pulls Poe from his seat. Kes scrambles down to the ground, and he is met by a waiting Finn. Carefully, Chewie brings a blinking Poe down, and Finn and Kes take him, lowering him to his feet. Poe immediately sways and mutters, "Think I'm going to sleep now," before his eyes roll back in his head, and he simply wilts.

Kes catches him, and Finn helps keep them both upright. Chewie slides down, and without asking, scoops the now-unconscious Poe up and carries him onto the Falcon, Kes and Finn close on his heels. With unexpected gentleness, Chewie settles Poe in the same bunk Rose recovered in on their escape from Crait.

Rey is waiting, and she pulls his boots off. Kes brings Poe's bag over and squeezes Rey's shoulder. She can hear him talking softly to Finn and Rose, and they both nod. BB-8 comes rolling up the ramp, stopping at Poe's bed, using his extenders to pull himself up. On seeing Poe, he swivels his head to Rey. She pats him on the head. "He'll be all right, BB-8."

With a sad sound, the little droid lowers himself back to the floor and looks up at Rey again. He beeps a question, and Rey nods. "Yes. If he's awake next time we drop out of hyperspace, he'll talk to you. I promise. Now go with Finn. He needs you in Black One."

With one more look back at Poe, the droid dutifully follows Finn off of the Falcon. Kes closes the ramp behind them. He looks over at Rey, nods, and goes to get a small rag and bowl of water. When he gets back, Rey is digging through Poe's bag, eventually pulling out Poe's sleep pants and a soft pullover shirt similar to the one she stole from him to sleep in herself. Rey goes to work, starting to pull his shirt off. Suddenly she gasps and stops, tears coming to her eyes.

Kes puts the water down on a table as the Falcon lurches back into the air. "Rey, what's wrong?"

She whimpers and points to Poe's hand. No one noticed when they brought him in, but there, clutched tight in his right hand, is Rey's lightsaber. Kes's face softens. He reaches out and gently pulls the saber from Poe's hand, placing the weapon on a nearby shelf. He then hugs Rey tight to him. "Once we get him settled, Little Jedi, can you please tell me what's going on? Because I'm guessing that you know."

She sniffles and nods into his shoulder. "Yes." She steps back. "Thank you."

"Let's get him cleaned up." Kes suggests quietly.

She turns back to Poe. "Can you get his pants? I wanted to change him into more comfortable clothes."

Rey goes back to work on the shirt, getting it off of him just as Kes pulls the pants down, leaving Poe in shorts and socks. Kes lets out a soft whistle. Rey looks up. "What?"

Kes points to the dark red scar that runs the length of Poe's left thigh. "That's not old."

Rey shakes her head. "Can you help me sit him up?" As Kes complies, helping her pull him up for a moment while she gets the soft shirt on him, she explains, "Remember the story about the moon he crashed on? He got that then."

"Right. You said he hurt his leg."

Kes steps out of the way while Rey goes down to Poe's feet and pulls his sleep pants on him. She keeps waiting for him to wake up and grouse about being able to dress himself, but he doesn't stir. When she's done, she looks up to see Kes has gotten the rag and the bowl of water and is gently cleaning the blood from Poe's hands.

When he realizes that she's watching, Kes hands Rey the bowl and rag. "Can you finish this? I think he's dehydrated. I want to run a line to run a fluid bag for him."

"Of course." Poe's hands are clean already, so she goes to work on his face. There is a decent amount of blood, and she carefully works to get every speck. Behind her, she can hear Kes rummaging through the medkit.

When she's done, she puts the bowl aside and leans forward, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Kes clears his throat behind her, and she looks at him. He has the bag and line ready, so she steps out of his way. He moves to his son's side, reaching for his left arm to start the line. Sensing Rey's question, he says softly, "Pathfinders were ground forces, lots of injuries. We all learned basic medical treatments, especially things like running a line." He glances at her. "What happened, Rey?"

She sighs, perching on the bunk near Poe's feet, her hand landing on the skin between his sock and the edge of his pants. "Master Luke thinks it was how much Poe had to use the Force."

At Kes's surprised look, Rey explains everything that happened on Yavin 4 after the Falcon took off. When Rey says that Poe was able to summon both sabers, including Kylo's from his hand, Kes catches his breath. She finishes with, "Once we got into hyperspace, he seemed fine. A little edgy, but I attributed that to just facing off with Kylo. I was tired, and he encouraged me to go to sleep. When I woke up, though, I couldn't reach him. I called to him for over ten minutes. I didn't hear him until just a few minutes before he dropped out of hyperspace. That's when he told me something was wrong."

"And Luke? You said 'Luke thinks' it has to do with the Force." Kes furrows his brow as he finishes putting the line in Poe's arm, taping it down and hanging the fluid drip on a hook over the bunk.

Rey sighs again. "Yes. He showed up in my head for a moment, telling me that he thinks it was too much, too fast, especially since he started so late in life and isn't exactly a natural at it. He did go from just talking with me and occasionally trying to move very small things to easily opening doors and stealing Kylo's lightsaber. Luke thinks the adrenaline protected him briefly, but that when he came off the adrenaline high, the impact to his body kicked in."

Kes straightens up, going to empty the water bowl and wring out the rag. He puts the medkit away, and he comes over to stand near them. Rey has moved up near Poe's head, and she's brushing her hand through his hair. Kes pats her shoulder. "Does he have to stop using it altogether?"

Rey shakes her head. "Luke doesn't think so. He said that he just needs to take some time and work up to it slowly."

Kes chuckles. "That'll make him crazy, especially now that he knows what he can do."

Rey snorts. "I'll just have to remind him that just because you can do something, that doesn't mean you should."

"I'm sure you will, Little Jedi." He leans down and kisses the top of her head. "I'm going to go sit with Chewie. You stay here, try to get some rest yourself. I'm guessing that landing the A-Wing for him took something from you, too."

She ducks her head. "Do you think the others realize that I had to do that?"

He crouches down next to her. "Yes, but they won't say anything. They know it would bother him, even though it wasn't his fault."

"Thank you, Kes."

He pats her knee and stands. "I'll see you later, Little Jedi. Rest. That's an order."

She gives him a weak smile. "Yes sir, Green Leader." He returns the smile, and after touching Poe's leg and squeezing gently, he heads for the cockpit.

Rey kicks off her own boots and unwraps her arms. She then pulls off her belt, dropping it to the floor. She's left in her pants and tunic, and she reaches up to free her hair, letting it fall loosely around her shoulders. She suddenly is almost desperate to touch him. The quiet of her mind, without him buzzing there, is driving her insane.

She finds a soft blanket in a drawer under the bunk, so she spreads it over him and then crawls into the bunk with him. She curls into his right side, mindful of the line going to his left arm. She snuggles close, wrapping her right arm around his torso under both the blanket and his shirt, the skin-to-skin contact helping her to settle.

As she begins to drift off to sleep, he sighs. She peers up at his face, and she can see that his color has improved slightly. Pressing a kiss to his shoulder, she snuggles down again and lets sleep take her.


	7. Chapter 7 - Waking Up and Moving Forward

**Author's Note: And that's the end for this. I had fun with this, but wow, it got a lot longer than I thought it would! Thanks for all of the reviews and favorites!**

 **Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.**

Waking up this time hurts a lot less than last time, though he has no idea where he is or how he got here. That's the first clear thought Poe has as he blinks his eyes open, eyes that feel like they're full of sand, but while he still has a mild headache, it's nothing like the screaming pain from before. He's also aware of a familiar weight on his right side and draped across his torso, and he peers down to see the top of Rey's head.

Some things are unfamiliar, though. The ceiling above him and the moderately comfortable bunk are new to him, but he guesses, in his slowly clearing head, that he is in a bunk on the Falcon. He also feels a line in his left arm, making him peer down and frown at it. A soft voice to his right makes him jump. "You were dehydrated."

He turns his head to see his dad there in a chair next to the bed. He becomes aware that in addition to Rey draped across his right side, his dad's hand rests on his lower leg. "Hey, Dad. Where are we?" He keeps his voice quiet to try to let Rey sleep.

"Hyperspace. Maybe six hours out from Felucia. We're going to drop out in another hour, just so we can check on Rose and Finn." Kes smiles. "And the Little Jedi promised BB-8 that you would talk to him when we drop, if you were awake yet, that is."

Poe runs his left hand through his hair, frowning again at the line in his arm. Kes rolls his eyes, standing up to get a bandage. Poe smiles gratefully, holding his arm out so that Kes can lean over Rey and pull it. He does, covering it with a fiber pad and the bandage to keep it from bleeding. "Thank you. I hate those things." He feels Rey shift slightly. He knows she woke up, but he leaves her be as she appears to not want them to know.

Kes grabs the fluid bag and tosses it and the line kit in the waste bin. "You and everyone else I know." He sits back down. "How is your head?"

Poe closes his eyes and sighs. "Mostly back to normal – not foggy, not dizzy. Slight headache, but nothing like before. That was blindingly painful," he pauses, "Dad, I don't know what the hell happened."

Motioning to Rey with his hand, Kes says, "She does. Or at least she has an idea based on something Luke told her."

"Luke?" Poe blinks in surprise. "So, it's Force-related?"

"Seems to be. I'll let the Little Jedi explain it, though." Kes looks down at his hands, now folded in his lap. "You scared the hell out of me, kid. When we pulled you out of your mom's A-Wing, you looked bad."

"How did I land, Dad?" Kes shoots him a confused look, and he explains, "I don't remember anything after starting the jump to Felucia. It's all blank. You and I talked, I called myself Green One and jumped, then I woke up here." Rey tenses against him, and he squeezes her gently.

"Kriff, Poe." Kes shakes his head and stands up. "She landed you. You didn't land. It's a damned good thing she guessed that you couldn't do it." He moves up, brushing Poe's hair back and then cupping his face in his palm. "I'm really glad you're all right, kid."

Poe reaches up his left hand and wraps it around Kes's wrist. "Me too. And I'm really glad you're here."

"I was coming no matter what. Just in case you feel bad about it, stop." He smiles and pulls his hand back. "I need to go check on Chewie. And by the way, I sent Leia a message before we jumped to Felucia. I just wanted her to know what happened and that we were on our way."

"Thanks, Dad." Kes nods and heads for the cockpit.

Rey shifts slightly when Kes leaves, and Poe squeezes her to him. "You landed me?" When she doesn't reply, Poe says, "Beautiful, you've been awake since Dad took my line out."

She sighs and asks quietly, "Are you really all right?"

"As far as I can tell." He rolls to his side and moves down so that they're face to face. "What happened to me, Rey?"

Opening her eyes to meet his, she feels weak at how good it is to see his eyes and to see his color returned to normal. She leans in, pressing her lips to his. She clings to him as she deepens the kiss, and he wraps his arms around her in response, pulling her flush to his body. After a minute or so, she pulls back, pressing her forehead to his. He takes a breath and says, "Guess I scared the hell out of you, too."

"I kept calling to you. I could feel the pain you were in, but I couldn't…" She swallows a sob. "And then, to realize that I may have been making it worse by calling over and over. And if I hadn't guessed that you needed help, made your dad let me land first, you'd probably be dead." She gasps on another sob.

"Shh, Rey. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you calling me. It took that hyperspace alarm to wake me up." He smooths her hair back, looping it behind her ears. "How did you land me?"

She sniffles, composing herself. "I landed the X-Wing, jumped out, and used the Force to slow your descent. You were coming down way too fast. I brought your ship down slowly and got the hatch open. Your dad powered her down. You really don't remember?"

"Nothing at all after the jump to Felucia."

Her voice is barely a whisper when she replies, "You talked to both of us, me and Kes, right after the jump and before you started down."

"Kriff. Rey, I really don't remember anything." He shakes his head and hugs her to him. She dips her head into the crook of his neck, and he goes on, "Beautiful, what happened to me? Dad mentioned Luke?"

She nods. "He thinks it was how much you used the Force. His words, 'Too much, too fast.'"

"So, I can't use it anymore? What about talking to you, feeling you in my head? I can't lose that."

He sounds almost panicked, and she pulls back to see his face. "No, we can work on it. We just need to slow down. Luke actually said we should start with the connection again first. He noted that it's something we both need – that it, his words, 'balances and feeds you both.'"

Poe breathes out a sigh of relief. "All right. But I assume, for now, I should maybe not try much of anything?"

Rey nods again. "I'd like a doctor at the base to check you out before we try anything again." He frowns at that, but she just pins him with a look. "I'll not let you hurt yourself, Poe. This was not something I can deal with very often. I know you don't like spending time in medical, but I need them to confirm that you're all right for my own peace of mind."

"All right, Beautiful. Dad'll bug me about it, too. So, I'll let them check me out." He pulls her close again, just holding her to him. They both relax into the bunk, enjoying the quiet and the proximity. After a while, though, Poe grins and says, "It was really awesome, though. I still can't believe it worked." She just laughs at that and nuzzles her face back into his neck. Another few moments pass, and then he says ruefully, "As nice as this is, I need to go to the refresher. And if there's a shower, that'd be nice, too."

"There is." She pulls back from him and moves with almost impossible grace to the floor, standing up. "I'll show you, and then I'm going to go check on Kes and Chewie."

"Or you can stay with me, and then we can check on them together. By the time we drop out of hyperspace, Chewie will have a lot of hours in the pilot's seat. We can give him a break."

She arches an eyebrow at him. "We? Poe, you just woke up from being unconscious for over six hours. You can shower and then go back to bed."

He swings his legs off of the bed and stands. He's very stiff, but he's otherwise completely steady. "Rey, look at me. I'm all right. Steady on my feet, head clear. You can pilot. I just want…" He swallows hard. "I have you blocked, because it hurt earlier to even feel you through the Force. But when you're not in my head, I need you nearby. At least right now." He looks at her, an anxious expression on his face. "Please?"

She blinks in surprise at the emotion behind the request. Even if he has his normal defenses up, she can still feel his emotions when they're strong, and in this case, it's fear. It's a fear she recognizes easily, because it's a fear of being alone. She knows that particular fear quite well, respects it, and because of that, she relents.

Holding out a hand, she says, "All right, Flyboy. But if the headache comes back, or you start to get too tired or fuzzy again, you have to promise me you'll come back here," she motions to the bunk, "And rest some more."

He takes her hand and kisses it. "I promise, Beautiful."

"All right." She keeps his hand in hers, and she pulls him slowly towards the Falcon's small refresher, moving carefully just in case, despite his assertion that he's steady, he loses his balance.

He tugs on her hand. "I can walk, Rey. We don't have to shuffle all the way."

She blushes but teases him, "You're too heavy to catch if you go down."

Rolling his eyes, he says, "Says the woman who landed an A-Wing without touching it."

She giggles and keeps pulling him towards the refresher, him laughing and her scolding him when he keeps pulling back against her. From the shadows, having come back to get some water and a snack for himself and Chewie Kes leans against the wall, smiling as he watches them, relief washing over him at the fact that Poe is clearly all right. He quickly grabs what he came for once they're in the refresher and then turns back towards the cockpit, giving them some privacy until they come to check on him and Chewie.

About half an hour later, Poe and Rey make their way to the cockpit. Poe had tried (and failed) to coax Rey into the shower with him, but they're both dressed in clean clothes, Poe with the binary beacon on his wrist and Rey with her hair done, though more simply than usual. Poe's hair is still damp, and he feels considerably better. Rey feels better too, in part because of the clean clothes, but also because he's fine. He'd even been singing in the shower.

They enter the cockpit holding hands, and Kes looks up at them with a smile. "Well, you both look a lot better."

Releasing Rey's hand, Poe rolls his eyes and, after shooing two porgs away, drops into the chair behind Kes. Rey starts to sit in the seat behind Chewie, but Kes shakes his head and gives her the pilot's seat, taking the one behind Chewie himself, also evicting a porg. Poe looks at his dad. "And you look tired."

Kes shrugs. "I didn't sleep for six hours like you did."

Lifting an eyebrow, Poe retorts, "Rey slept. I was unconscious, Dad. Not exactly the same thing."

"I'm also old."

Poe chuckles at that. "Sure, Dad."

Rey asks, "How old were you when Poe was born?"

"Older than you, Little Jedi, but younger than him." Kes smiles and motions to Poe.

"You mentioned the 'Pathfinders' earlier. What kind of unit were you?" Rey looks back at him, suddenly curious after his earlier reference to them and his ability to provide medical care.

"Special Forces, ground mostly, specialized in going in first. Got to blow a lot of stuff up, too." He grins.

Rey smirks and turns in her seat to look back at Poe. "So, it appears that you come by that honestly."

Poe just laughs, and Kes does the same as he insists, "His mom liked blowing stuff up, too, so it may have been pre-ordained."

Chewie calls something, making Kes reach up and grip the Wookie's shoulder. "Too true, Chewie. Shara was far better at it than I was. She was pretty much better at everything."

"Not true, Dad," Poe interjects with a lifted eyebrow, "Mom couldn't cook worth a damn."

Kes snorts. "Good point. Your mother could burn water."

"Do you remember that time, I think I was maybe 6, that she set the stove on fire trying to cook an egg?" Poe grins.

Kes returns the grin. "Remember? I had to put it out, and the house smelled like smoke and burnt egg for a solid month. I banned her from the kitchen after that."

Rey and Chewie exchange an amused glance at the conversation behind them, and then the hyperspace alert goes off. A minute later, they drop out of hyperspace, a safe distance from any inhabited system or habitable planets. Rose and Finn are already there, chatting over the comms. Rey puts on a headset, and knowing they'll ask to talk to him, she passes a second one to Poe. As he gets his on, Rey calls, "Rose, Finn, how are you both doing?"

Rose answers first. "Good! I like this little ship!"

Poe and Rey both laugh, and Poe replies, "My mom would be glad to hear it, Rose."

"Poe?" Finn breaks in. "Are you all right?"

Poe rubs the back of his neck with one hand. "Yeah, Finn. I'm a lot better. Thanks to you and Rose for taking the fighters."

Before Finn or Rose can respond, a series of happy sounding beeps comes across, and Poe smiles fondly. "Yes, Buddy. I promise I'm fine." BB-8 beeps more, this time sounding stern, if that's possible. Poe grins and replies patiently, "Yes, I know I scared you. I'm sorry."

An alert sounds from inside the Falcon's cockpit, and Kes says, "Incoming message. I sent one to Leia before we jumped to Felucia. Maybe that's her getting back to us."

Rey says to Finn and Rose, "Hold on a moment, you two. We have a long-range message coming in."

A moment later, a recorded message pops up. Poe looks over Rey's shoulder and frowns. "It's encrypted, and it's a pattern I don't know."

Kes leans forward, and he grins. He says to Rey, "May I?"

She hands him the communication unit, and he taps in a code. The message immediately begins to run while Poe looks at Kes in surprise. Leia's gravelly voice fills the cockpit. "Kes Dameron, never in a million years did I expect to hear from you. We're on our way to you. We managed to procure a new small cruiser, and we can meet you at Chewie's home. I hope one of you has Poe's binary beacon, that'll make this easier. I hope he's all right, but we're bringing a doctor just in case. See you soon, old friend."

With that, the message ends. Rey looks confused. "Chewie's home?"

In unison, with accompaniment from Chewie, Kes and Poe say, "Kashyyk."

Poe adds, "The Wookie homeworld."

They send jump coordinates to Rose and Finn. Rey tells them, "It's only a few more hours. Are you both sure you're doing all right?"

After they both confirm that they're fine, they watch the two little ships make the jump, and Chewie follows. Poe looks at Chewie and then Kes. "Now both of you go get some rest. Rey will fly us, and I'm going to get the binary beacon," he flashes the little blinking object on his wrist, "Hooked up for when we get there."

Chewie agrees readily, telling Rey just how tired he is. He pats Rey on the shoulder, and then, surprising all of them, he hugs Poe, calling out something before releasing him and heading to his bunk. Poe turns a questioning look to Rey, who explains, "He said he's glad you're all right."

Before he leaves, Kes hugs Poe tight, too. This hug was more expected, and Poe returns it just as tightly. His Dad says softly, "I'm glad, too, kid."

Kes releases him a moment later, going to the common area to grab some sleep in one of the vacant bunks. Poe watches him go, a thoughtful look on his face. He turns and settles into the co-pilot's seat, and he stares out the window at the streaks of light through the glass. After a while, Rey says, "What are you thinking about?"

He jumps a little, and he gives her a sheepish smile when she's clearly amused. "I was thinking that I really hope that Kylo didn't destroy the house. I figure he probably damaged or even destroyed the tree, but I hope he left the house alone." He runs his right hand through his hair, now dry and falling in its normal curls and waves.

His left hand sits on a console between them, so she reaches over and entwines their fingers. "I hope so, too. It took all of five minutes for me to decide that when people ask me where 'home' is, I was going to start saying Yavin 4 instead of Jakku."

She looks at him shyly, giving him a small smile. He blinks in surprise but then his expression softens, and he raises their joined hands, pressing a soft kiss to the back of hers. "I'm really happy to hear that, Beautiful. Dad would love it, too."

They ride in silence for a while, joined hands resting on the console between them. Eventually, she sighs. "I miss you."

"What?" He looks at her, confused.

"In my head. I'll be glad once you see the doctor. I don't like not having you in the back of my head. I just…miss you."

"I miss you, too. I forgot how quiet it can get in my own head." He frowns. "But you could feel me back before we connected. Is that gone, too?"

She shakes her head. "Not entirely. You're far better at blocking now than you were. But when you wanted me to come with you to the shower earlier, I could feel anxiety, fear, pretty strongly from you."

He nods. "I really, really didn't want you away from me, Beautiful." He squeezes her hand with his. "Still don't. Never really will."

"Same here, Flyboy." She pauses, smiling. "So, your mother couldn't cook?"

He laughs and remembers that he needs to connect the binary beacon, pulling it from his wrist. "Oh, Force no. She was so bad in the kitchen." As he hooks up the beacon, he goes on to tell Rey stories about his mom, some about her cooking misadventures, others about more serious things. It has always been hard for him to talk about his mom, but suddenly, with Rey, it's incredibly important to him that she know about the woman he still idolizes in his heart but who he had far too little time with.

A few hours later, the hyperspace alarm sounds again, and they drop out of hyperspace. "Rose, Finn, stand by. We've got the beacon going."

Finn and Rose both acknowledge, sounding pretty tired. The beacon begins flashing quickly, and Rey follows the signal, saying. "Rose, Finn, follow us."

At that moment, Chewie and Kes appear in the doorway to the cockpit. Poe starts to get up to give Chewie the co-pilot's seat, but much to Poe's surprise, the Wookie motions to him to stay put, taking the seat behind him. Kes takes the seat behind Rey, catching Poe's eye and shrugging. Poe is about to say something, when the comms panel beeps and the voice of Lieutenant Connix comes over the line. "This is Cruiser Holdo. Do you copy?"

Poe gets a lump in his throat at the name, but then he smiles and taps the comm on. "We copy, Cruiser Holdo, this is Commander Dameron on the Falcon."

"Commander," Leia's voice comes on the comm, "I was told that you were not well. It's good to hear you sounding all right."

"It's good to be all right, General. I was a lot less all right about ten hours ago, but it's a long story."

"I imagine it is, Commander. So, is the Sergeant there as well?" Poe can almost hear the smile in her voice, something he hasn't heard in a while, and he tosses his dad a comm set.

"The General would like to say hello, Sergeant." Poe grins at Kes as Rey and Chewie laugh.

Kes rolls his eyes and puts the comm set on. Without any preamble, he just drawls, "I'm retired, General."

Leia laughs over the comm. "Well, then it's Leia, Kes."

"I knew that, Leia. And no matter how all right my son claims to be, he needs to go to medical when we land."

Poe shoots Kes an irritated look, and Rey chimes in, "Yes, General. He's much better, but they need to do a scan. We'll explain when we land."

"Overprotective." Poe grouses for a moment, but then he looks at the beacon and asks, "General, looks like we're nearing your location. What kind of space is there for us to land? It's the Falcon, my X-Wing and Mom's, er, an A-Wing."

He hears Leia take a quick breath in surprise. Kes must notice too, because he quietly says, "It was just sitting there, Leia. She'd want it put to good use."

"Agreed, Kes. Thank you. And Poe, we have the cruiser parked in a large clearing. The fighters will fit inside the cruiser, but the Falcon won't. There's ample room in the clearing, though."

"Understood. Rose, Finn?" When they both reply that they're there, Poe goes on, "Land the fighters in the clearing. Neither of you have ever tried to land in a cruiser bay, so we'll get them inside for you."

"Copy that, Poe!" Rose replies.

"Got it, Poe," Finn also responds, accompanied by a beeping BB-8.

Moments later, Rey spies the cruiser. It's not new, but it looks battle-tested and well-armed. She gets near, and she carefully lands the Falcon next to the new ship. Close behind, Rose and Finn set down their respective fighters. They are just opening their hatches as Rey, Poe, Chewie, and Kes are descending the ramp of the Falcon.

Poe laughs when BB-8 drops out of Black One the moment she's shut down and barrels towards him. He crouches down to greet the little droid, mainly because if he didn't, BB-8 would likely crash into his legs, and that would hurt like hell. Rey watches fondly as Poe talks to the droid, reassuring him that he's fine. Kes stands next to Rey, amused. "I can't decide if it's endearing or weird."

Rey chuckles. "Endearing. As droids go, he's hard not to love."

They hear a noise from the cruiser, and they all look over to see Leia emerge, followed by Lieutenant Connix and the same doctor who looked at Poe's leg when he was injured on the moon. Poe stands up, rolling his eyes. Cutting off any complaining that Poe might be about to start with, Kes walks over to meet the approaching party, wrapping Leia up in a tight hug. Leia returns the hug, and Poe hears her sigh and say, "It's damned good to see you, old friend."

They stay that way for a while, and Rey comes over to Poe, linking her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder. "I didn't realize they were close."

"She was closer to Mom, but yeah, she knew them both well. She's lost so much lately. It didn't occur to me how good it might be to see someone who understands." He turns and presses a kiss to the top of Rey's head. "Do you want to go take the fighters inside?"

She looks up at him. "Are you sure…"

"Rey. Yes. I'm fine."

"Let me be the judge of that." They look up to see the doctor standing there. "Tell me what happened."

Leia and Kes join them while Rose and Finn go to the Falcon to get their things and then inside the cruiser with Connix to get some rest. Chewie heads back onto the Falcon after patting Leia on the shoulder.

There are some rocks nearby, so the four of them remaining plus the doctor go sit while Rey does most of the explaining, taking care to mention the weapons they found and will unload later. When she gets to Kylo Ren's arrival at Yavin 4, Leia sighs heavily, and Kes reaches over and squeezes her shoulder. Her eyes widen, though, at the news of how Poe was able to use the Force.

When they turn to what happened, the doctor begins to pepper Poe with questions, coming over and checking his heart rate, his eyes, and blood pressure, as well as doing some simple cognitive tests as Rey finishes the story. When Rey is done, the doctor says, "Commander, you appear to be fine, though I do want to do a quick scan of your head to be sure. But," she looks at Leia, "He should be fine to help move the fighters." With a nod to all of them, the doctor heads back inside.

Before Poe and Rey can start moving towards the fighters, though, Poe looks at Leia. "General, why were you here? There's no way you had enough time to get Dad's message and get here from the base."

"First Order scouts found the base. We're on the move again. We have a place in mind, but we happened to get Kes's message when we weren't too far from here. It was just luck." She shrugs. "We knew the other base was likely temporary. Connix got help, and they got the things from your room for you. They're in your assigned quarters on the cruiser, other than Rey's workbench, which we have in a corner of the hangar. Kes, we have some space. We'll get you quarters, too."

"We're going to have to figure out what to do with me, Leia. I'm going to be bored out of my mind inside of a week." Kes grimaces at the thought of sitting around. At least at home, he had his orchard of trees to tend to and the house to keep up.

Poe feels a pang of sympathy for him, but Leia gives Kes a smile. "It's funny you say that, Sergeant. I happen to have a whole slew of ground troop recruits but very few experienced people to train them, and no one with infiltration, front line experience. Certainly no one who was a Pathfinder."

"Is that so?" Kes begins to smile.

"It is. If you might be interested, I'll give you a field commission and promotion to Captain. You'd both train them and be in base command. You'll have to report to this one," she motions to Poe, "Which will be awfully fun for me to watch."

Rey laughs out loud, and Poe bumps her with his hip, shushing her. Kes just rolls his eyes again and says, "Can I think about it?"

"Of course. Let me know when you're ready to say yes." Leia smirks at him and heads back to the cruiser.

Kes shakes his head, laughing. Poe grins. "I promise I'll go easy on you, Dad."

"Nah, I'll be a pain in your ass. Actually, she's right. It'll be fun." Kes turns and yells at Leia's retreating form, "Consider me un-retired, General." She just holds up her cane, waving it in response, and keeps going.

It's Poe's turn to roll his eyes as Rey stands next to him, still laughing. She composes herself a moment later. "I'm going to go move the A-Wing. I've been wanting to fly it."

Poe knew that was inevitable, so he waves her off. "Once you have it parked – and yes, I know you're going to fly it around a bit first – come help us get the stuff off of the Falcon."

Kes calls, "Have fun, Little Jedi!"

She gives them a cheeky salute worthy of the ones Poe likes to give Leia, and she heads for the A-Wing. Poe shakes his head and turns to his dad, expression going serious. "Dad, I can talk to Leia. Maybe you can report to her instead."

Kes puts his hand on Poe's shoulder. "Kid, it's all right. If you're uncomfortable, that's fine. Otherwise, it's good by me. I'm not worried about it." The A-Wing lifts off, zipping away faster than even Poe might've taken it. Poe watches, a look of pride and adoration in his eyes. Kes notices and says, "I'm really glad you found her, Poe. She's going to keep you on your toes."

"That she will, Dad. She already does." He looks over and arches an eyebrow at Kes. "So, Captain Dameron, training recruits?"

Shrugging, Kes says, "Beats sitting around and being annoying until Leia stuns me."

"She'll do it, too. Ask me how I know." Poe smiles ruefully. "I'm going to go move Black One inside, then I'll come back and help you get our stuff from the Falcon. Rey won't be back for a while."

"I'll get it all gathered up." Kes agrees, and he heads for the Falcon.

Poe watches him go, suddenly struck by how surreal it is to have his dad here. Turning and walking towards Black One with BB-8 on his heels, he mutters, "Surreal, but good."

An hour-and-a-half later, Poe has gotten the fighter moved, their stuff moved in from the Falcon, his dad settled in a nearby room, and his head scanned in medical. He'd been given a clean bill of health, making him and his dad breathe a sigh of relief. In the room he and Rey were assigned, he changes into sleep clothes, and he sits reading a report on a tablet and waiting for Rey to come back from flying the A-Wing.

Despite hours of unconsciousness, he's far more tired than he expected to be. When he was getting scanned, the doctor had warned him that would probably be the case. Luckily, though, she hadn't put any limitations on his activities, just admonished him to take it easy for a day or two.

BB-8 is off with R2 and C3PO, bored by Poe's desire to just relax in the room. Poe desperately wants to send a thought to Rey, but he's still nervous about their connection. After his recent experience with the Force, he's not ashamed that it makes him a little anxious. He looks across the room, his eyes landing on three buckets of damp dirt, each with a piece of the Force tree in it. His dad found the bag with the tree fragments on the Falcon, and he helped Poe get the buckets and dirt.

He mainly did it to make Rey happy, but Kes liked it too. Poe even offered to let Kes take one of the buckets to his quarters, but Kes declined, citing that Rey was the best person for the tree pieces to be near. Kes also had found Rey's lightsaber and staff near the bunk on the Falcon; the saber now sits on the shelf near the bed and the staff leans against the wall near the tree pieces. Given his position as 2IC, he and Rey have fairly nice quarters here, a space with a private refresher and a window. To Kes's consternation, his quarters are similar. He'd protested, but he was overruled by both Poe and Leia.

Poe sighs, setting the tablet aside, placing it next to the lightsaber. "Kriff it," he says. He sits up in a cross-legged position, and he tries to completely clear his mind. He carefully removes the barriers he had put up in his mind, and he's almost immediately overwhelmed by the buzz of Rey that returns. He tenses slightly, fearing the pain that might follow their connection, but nothing happens other than the pleasant buzz of Rey in his head.

He sits quietly, eyes closed, thinking about the events of the past few days. He also notices that the air feels different to him, almost alive, and he wonders if it's due to his current proximity to Force tree shards. If so, he's happy to note that the nearness of the tree pieces doesn't seem to be over-taxing him.

A moment later, he jumps at the sound of someone at the door. Out of habit, his hand is halfway to Rey's lightsaber, the closest weapon, when the door slides open to reveal Rey, hair askew and a cautious smile on her face. "I can feel you again." She comes in the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

He straightens his legs, rising to meet her. "Doc says my head is fine." He speaks the words, still wary of using the Force.

She crosses the room in a few strides to wrap him up in a tight hug. She repeats her words from the doorway, but instead of surprise, they're said with relief this time. "I can feel you again."

He hugs her even closer. Now that she's here, he finds himself willing to try talking to her through the connection. He thinks, "And I can feel you again."

She pulls back, a look of pure happiness on her face. She leans into him, pressing her lips to his. The kiss becomes heated quite rapidly, and in moments, he's lifting her and placing her on the bed. She laughs and sits up, shedding her boots, vest, and belt before he can go turn off the room's overhead lights, lock the door, and come back. He sheds his shirt before climbing into the bed with her, noting with a thought, "I'm supposed to be taking it easy."

Despite his words, he helps her take off her tunic and pushes her down onto the bed, following and caging her with his body. She traces her hands along the defined muscles of his upper arms and shoulders, gives him a sly smile, and thinks, "Well, we'll just have to take it slow, then. Can you manage that, Flyboy?"

He leans down, bumping her nose with his, thinking, "I can manage anything, Beautiful," before pressing his lips to hers.


End file.
